LANDER - Two separate reports in Washington, D.C., seem to confirm Gov. Dave Freudenthal's assertion that protecting the Wyoming Range from further energy development would have a "negligible" impact on gas production, state officials and a sportsmen's organization said Tuesday.

But a representative of Wyoming's leading petroleum industry organization said recent estimates of gas reserves in the Wyoming Range involve a lot of guesswork, and should be viewed with skepticism.

He also called into question a Congressional Budget Office report on July 8 that presumes no new oil and gas leases would be sold within the next 10 years in the 1.2 million acres the bill would make off-limits to energy development.

In a joint statement Tuesday, two advocacy groups, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range and Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range, touted a new U.S. Geological Survey report and the recent Congressional Budget Office estimate as proof that the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, proposed by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, "would allow the state to continue producing more than its share of energy resources and protect a special place that defines Wyoming."

Freudenthal sent a letter in June to New Mexico U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, citing new information regarding the amount and location of estimated gas reserves in the range. In the letter, Freudenthal said the majority of the estimated gas reserves underlie the 75,000 acres already leased for development. As a result, he said, "the act could still allow access to most of this gas resource."

According to the governor, the "latest, most reliable" data estimates the undiscovered natural gas resource to be 1.1 trillion cubic feet. By comparison, the estimated recoverable amount of natural gas in the nearby Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields is 37 trillion cubic feet combined, the governor wrote.

Previous estimates said the Wyoming Range had about 12 trillion cubic feet of reserves, an amount comparable to the Jonah Field.

After receiving Freudenthal's letter, Bingaman also received an updated report, at his request, from the USGS, which stated there is an estimated 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas underneath the areas the bill would make off-limits to energy production.

While the USGS's more recent estimate is slightly higher than the 1.1 trillion cubic feet cited by Freudenthal, it still supports the governor's assertion that the bill's impact would be negligible on overall gas production there, said Cara Eastwood, Freudenthal's press secretary.

"As the governor has said, the act will still allow access to most of the resource in that area," Eastwood said. "It is part of the governor's concept of balance. This is a very special place that can be protected, but at the same time he's comfortable with new directional drilling and development on the existing leases."

Wyoming is doing its part to produce energy for this country, and even for the world, Eastwood said, and the governor doesn't think it's unreasonable to set aside certain places as special, and off-limits to drilling.

Too much guesswork?

But Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said he is skeptical of the recent reports.

Developing estimates of gas reserves requires a lot of speculation, he said, and even though the numbers might sound official coming from the USGS, nobody really knows how much gas is underground until operators drill and start developing an area.

"They say anywhere from 12 trillion to 1 trillion, and I don't know - and I don't think anybody can know - until you get in there," Hinchey said. "Twenty years ago people didn't think Jonah had anything like what it's got. Now Jonah and the Pinedale Anticline is a massive gas find."

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act was introduced by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in October, based on legislation that the late Wyoming Republican Sen. Craig Thomas had planned to offer. It passed committee last month and still must be voted on by the full Senate.

The Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate of Barrasso's bill, completed last week, concludes the legislation would cost the federal government basically nothing.

"Under current law, CBO anticipates that neither (the U.S. Forest Service nor the Bureau of Land Management) will offer to sell mineral leases or other interests in lands that would be withdrawn by the bill within the next 10 years," the report concluded.

Hinchey, however, took issue with the CBO's assumptions regarding future leasing, because it would just take one new, high-quality gas discovery in the area to get many people interested in prospecting and developing.

"I would question (the CBO's assumption) because I think there's a good possibility that some of the land could be nominated and leased," Hinchey said. "Somebody finds something, and all of a sudden there's a lot more interest in the area."

Walt Gasson, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said regardless of the new reports and regardless of any new information that might emerge about the amount of gas under the ground in the Wyoming Range, the essential question facing Wyomingites remains the same:

"With all the values that we currently have in the Wyoming Range, is it worth sacrificing those values to gain this much in gas reserves?" Gasson said.

The Wyoming Wildlife Federation wants to preserve some of Wyoming's wilderness for the future, he said, and the Wyoming Range is one of the Cowboy State's special places, and it should be protected.

"There are a lot of places where energy production is going on," Gasson said. "It isn't like there isn't already production in the Wyoming Range. But do we have to drill every square inch? I don't think that would be fair for the next generation of Americans."

Duane Hyde, a retired game warden from Afton, agreed with Gasson, and said while he understands the need for energy development, some places are better suited to it than others.

"I was a game warden in the Wyoming Range for 31 years, and during that time I grew to appreciate what a great recreation area that the Wyoming Range is," Hyde said. "I care about how much it costs to fill up my truck tank, but industrializing the Wyoming Range isn't going to fix that."

Barrasso's Wyoming Range bill has been bundled as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, and is expected to be voted on after the August recess. The omnibus legislation is a collection of 90 bills that have passed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during this Congress.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrilltrib.com or at (307) 267-6722.

BREAKOUT

What is the Wyoming Range Legacy Act?

* The Wyoming Range Legacy Act of 2007 was introduced by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in October, based on legislation that the late Wyoming Republican Sen. Craig Thomas had planned to offer.

* Under the bill, no additional oil and gas leasing, mining patents or geothermal leasing would be allowed in a 100-mile-long stretch of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming.

* No currently producing areas within the boundaries would be affected. For leases already issued in the area, the bill would establish a process to allow groups or individuals interested in conservation to buy back voluntarily offered leases and retire them permanently.

* The bill has the support of a broad coalition of conservation and sporting groups and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who flew to Washington and back on the same day to testify for it in February. The Petroleum Association of Wyoming opposes the measure.

NEWS TRACKER

Last we knew:

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The bill has been bundled as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, and should be voted on after the August recess. Representatives with the U.S. Geological Survey indicated the estimated undiscovered natural gas reserves in the Wyoming Range are much lower than once thought. Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote a letter to Capitol Hill in June citing new data he said indicated the Wyoming Range Legacy Act would have a "negligible" impact on gas production in the Wyoming Range.

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