LANDER - Representatives with the petroleum industry are unhappy with a newly proposed management plan for the Pinedale region, and they essentially are calling for a do-over on the part of the federal government.

A spokeswoman for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States likened the plan to a "straitjacket" on Thursday, and said it would unnecessarily make oil and gas development impossible, for decades, on nearly 690 square miles of public lands.

The Bureau of Land Management released its final proposal for the Pinedale resource management plan at the end of August, and it immediately received praise from conservation groups because it includes protections for "crucial" habitats and big game migration corridors, they said.

Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for IPAMS, said her organization plans to formally protest the BLM proposal, and will petition the agency to do a new environmental analysis, complete with another public comment period, before arriving at a final decision.

Officials with the BLM, however, that they will not comply with that request.

Read more about it in Friday's Star-Tribune.

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