Public hammers agency on Wyoming Range drilling proposal

Tensions flared while forest officials tried to reel in discussion during a public meeting here Tuesday night as people hammered a proposal to drill for natural gas in parts of the Wyoming Range. About 250 people crammed into a conference room, some standing, and representatives of the Teton County Sheriff's Office hovered around the perimeter. Most came to tell officials from the Bridger-Teton National Forest that a proposal by a Houston company to drill in the Noble Basin of the Hoback Rim area just south of Bondurant is a travesty. Bridger-Teton Supervisor Jacque Buchanan repeatedly told the crowd the decision to lease the area had already been made by the Bureau of Land Management back in 1992. She said the issue in front of the U.S. Forest Service and the public today surrounds considerations to allow the leasing, and how to manage the activity. "What's in front of us is how to allow this project to go forward," she said, and how to mitigate impacts for the project. Buchanan repeatedly said the decision was not whether to allow drilling...more