The US Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs field office is seeking public comments on a proposal to develop up to 17 natural gas wells on as many as 5 well pads about 35 miles northwest of Baggs, Wyo., in Sweetwater County.
It said the proposed Desolation Road gas project would affect about 117 acres of mostly public land within 2 miles of the northern border of the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area (WSA), with the closest well pad about 1,000 ft from WSA’s boundary.
The project is in a Class II visual resource management area and contains designated pronghorn antelope crucial winter range as well as potential habitat for raptors and mountain plover, BLM said in an Oct. 10 notice.
Primarily exploratory development would take place in 3-5 years, with the actual number of wells and pads dependent on the success of early drilling, it said. The project’s anticipated life is 40-50 years.
Written comments will be accepted until Nov. 14, the notice said. BLM also has scheduled open houses Oct. 28 in Rawlins and Oct. 29 in Rock Springs to provide information about the proposed project and give the public the opportunity to comment.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].