In the upcoming months, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will clarify the role of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group (PAWG).

That was the message from BLM High Desert District Manager John Ruhs during the PAWG’s January meeting.

Ruhs, who was appointed as district manager in April 2009, oversees 9.4 million acres of BLM lands in southwestern Wyoming with a budget of $22 million that funds more than 300 employees in four field offices, including the Pinedale Field Office (PFO).

Ruhs said the PFO is going through some changes that will include the PAWG.

“So one of the things we need to do over the next couple months is really to clarify roles and responsibilities,” Ruhs told PAWG members. “And one of those actions we’re going to ask this group to do, is to help us identify those roles and responsibilities to … make sure we’re communicating things better.”



PAPO and PAWG

The issue was raised during a

discussion of mitigation projects being developed by the Pinedale Anticline Project Office (PAPO). That interagency entity receives money directly from Pinedale Anticline gas field operators to develop on- and-off site mitigation projects. Its board, consisting of Sublette County Commissioner Joel Bousman and state agency heads from the BLM, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Wyoming Game and Fish, selects projects to fund.

Cathy Purves, PAWG chair, asked why the PAWG was not being asked for recommendations concerning those PAPO-funded projects.

“The track that we’re going down, talking about the projects and trying to get those vetted here,” Ruhs explained, “that’s really not the venue that those projects are going to get vetted.”

Ruhs explained that the PAPO board and the PAPO Managers Committee (the four agency heads minus Bousman)

provide oversight and direction to the PAPO staff.

He said vetting for PAPO projects happens “over here,” he gestured to his right, indicating the PAPO board and Managers Committee, while “the PAWG’s over here,” he gestured to his left.

He said the PAWG should not seek projects to make recommendations; instead, the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) should be funneling information to the PAWG that requires its recommendations.

According to the 2008 PAWG charter, that information would include “matters pertinent to the oil and gas development of the Pinedale Anticline area, as described in the Pinedale Anticline Record of Decision.”

The charter also singles out the PFO manager as the DFO.

But the PFO field manager position has lately been in flux. In October, then-PFO Manager Chuck Otto announced a temporary leave to take part in an experimental wind energy project near Cedar City, Utah. At the time, Otto told the Pinedale Roundup he was looking forward to returning in three months. Then Jack Hansen took over as acting field manager.

During its January meeting, the PAWG was greeted by new PFO Manager Brian Davis.

Ruhs appeared to indicate Davis would take a more active role in defining PAWG recommendation parameters.

“It seems we’ve been spinning our wheels,” Purves said, adding the upcoming Feb. 25 meeting will see “some redefining of roles of the PAWG based on … a lack of clarity that has gone on in the past couple of years.”



Communication

Ruhs said the PAPO is working to communicate better with the public. He said a PAPO/Jonah Interagency Office Web site will soon be up and running. Also, the PAPO plans to update the public on mitigation projects during evening “open houses.”

“What I’m trying to say … is that the PAPO office needs to be providing an opportunity to see these projects without having to come here to (the PAWG) meeting,” he explained.

He also said PFO proceedings will become transparent, in response to Linda Baker of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, who said she was thrown out of a BLM quarterly meeting in October.

“There may be some issues that need to be covered behind doors between operators and the agency for permitting issues,” he said. “But anything beyond that will have open attendance and opportunities for (the public).”

Purves lauded Ruhs’ proposed reformations, saying the PFO’s opacity has been “a matter of contention” in the past.



For the complete article see the 02-09-2010 issue.

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