LANDER - Gov. Dave Freudenthal backs a new Bush administration plan for managing oil and gas development on the Pinedale Anticline, but some Pinedale-area residents have not found comfort in that fact.

They worry the new plan, finalized Friday, won't make the air any cleaner or protect the ground water any more successfully.

And one retired U.S. Forest Service scientist fears that drilling 4,400 new wells in the field - as outlined by the plan - will cause Alpine lakes in the Wind River Mountain Range to become too acidic in the coming years.

The new governing document for the Pinedale Anticline was signed and published on Friday in Cheyenne during a joint appearance with Freudenthal and Stephen Allred, assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Freudenthal was critical of the previous draft of the rules - saying they didn't adequately address concerns about air and water pollution, and could have been harmful to area wildlife - but he said he now supports the final decision.

"This 2008 record of decision for the Pinedale Anticline is an improvement over the 2000 document," Freudenthal said. "This (plan) allows for more production of the area's natural gas reserves, but requires industry to use cleaner technology to reduce impacts to Wyoming's air quality, to protect wildlife by not developing in the areas adjacent to the Anticline, and to use clustered development and offsite mitigation."

The Upper Green River Valley has had some ozone pollution "events" in recent winters, when the ground-level air carried potentially dangerous levels of the poison. And last winter people with respiratory problems were advised by authorities to stay indoors for several days.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has attributed the ozone pollution mainly to oil and gas development on the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah gas fields.

Federal officials say the new development plan will decrease the number of truck trips on the field by 165,000 per year, and cut air emissions by 80 percent within 42 months.

Dubious claims?

But Rod Rozier, who lives on a ranch outside of Pinedale, said ozone pollution in the region remains a big concern for him, and he believes the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's new plan will do nothing to lessen the pollution anytime soon.

"I am not buying those claims," Rozier said. "I understand their reasoning, but I do not believe that 4,400 new wells and year-round drilling are going to decrease air pollution, particularly in the next few years."

Many of the actions BLM officials hope will reduce emissions are voluntary, Rozier argues, so there's no certainty the predicted reductions will actually be realized.

Rozier is also worried about recent reports of water well contamination near gas wells on the field, he said.

"It's a major concern to people who have domestic water wells for drinking," Rozier said. "I'm on a ranch and I'm looking at four or five rigs a couple miles away, and we've got a 50-year water well here. I'm looking at the New Fork (River) in my back yard, and at the wildlife, and we don't know where this contamination is coming from."

Instead of fixing the air pollution and water contamination first, and expanding development second, the federal government is telling area residents that more drilling and more production will fix the problem, he said, which, in the very least, seem like a dubious claim.

"It's a frustrating experience. It's one where your voice is really not heard," Rozier said.

Alpine lakes in danger?

Al Galbraith, a retired Forest Service hydrologist who long studied the chemistry of the snow and rain falling in the Wind River Range, said he fears the ramped-up development will eventually cause some high mountain lakes to become too acidic to support much life.

This "acidification" process has already begun in some lakes, including the Upper Saddle Bag Lake, Galbraith argued, and more drill-rig pollution will just speed it up.

"Since Jonah and the Anticline came online we identified the beginning of acidification in high mountain lakes," Galbraith said. And if the trend continues, he argued, it could lead to the loss of these fisheries.

The water in the lakes is becoming more acidic because an excess amount of nitrates is falling into the watersheds, Galbraith said. The nitrates are emitted from automobiles and drill rig engines, among other things. They are then carried by the weather into the mountains, precipitated out, and eventually make their way into the alpine lakes, he said.

"What I'm personally concerned about is that we're starting to see this now, before the 4,400 additional wells in the anticline come on line," Galbraith said. "Unless something really serious is done about controlling emissions from the existing field, as the new wells are added, the lakes are going to get more and more acidic."

What about the contaminated water?

Jocelyn Moore, who lives five miles west of Pinedale, said her biggest worry about the plan is that it won't fix the ongoing problem of ground water contamination.

Moore said she doesn't have a great deal of confidence that the new plan, which will quadruple the number of gas wells in the field, won't lead to more water contamination.

Several wells have tested positive for hydrocarbon contamination over the past few years, and Moore fears that authorities really do not have a good handle yet on where the contamination is coming from, and how it might move through the underground water tables.

"I'm just an average citizen," Moore said. "I'd like to see some kind of professional come in and do some trend analysis of the water contamination. What's the interaction between the ground water aquifers? Where is this contamination being detected? Where is it moving? I'm just anxious to make sure human health will be protected."

In the plan published Friday, the BLM acknowledged the problem of ground water contamination, and called for a $1.5 million "prevention, mitigation and monitoring plan" to address the issue.

In the fifth chapter of the document, the agency states: "Detection of hydrocarbons in industrial water wells is a concern. Potential causes have been identified and mitigation measures have been suggested. BLM will continue to work with the regulatory agencies and the Operators to identify and mitigate potential mechanisms for contamination of water with hydrocarbons."

The specifics of the plan and the strategies for funding it have yet to be finalized, but the document calls for the development of an interim program within three months.

Barring any successful legal challenges, this new development plan for the Pinedale Anticline is expected to govern field activities for at least the next 20 to 25 years.

Contact environment reporter Chris Merrill at (307) 267-6722 or chris.merrill@trib.com