While the oil and gas industry in Wyoming is talking about borrowing good ideas from the coal industry on sage grouse conservation, environmentalists warn that this might be the last chance for Wyoming to save the imperiled bird before it's listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Those were two tracks of discussion in Thursday's session of the Wyoming Sage Grouse Summit, convened by Gov. Dave Freudenthal in Casper.

Ken Cochran, president of the Thunder Basin Coal Co. in northeast Wyoming, spoke of how the coal industry has dealt with wildlife conservation and rehabilitation of disturbed ground, once the mining is over.

In contrast to the widely distributed oil and gas industry, the surface coal mining industry is heavily concentrated in a discrete area and works there for decades before restoration programs are put in place. The process calls for long-term planning and implementation of conservation efforts, along with mining, he said.

Several conservationists in the audience praised the conservation track record of the coal mining industry, then asked how the oil and gas industry might absorb the "culture of conservation" exhibited by the coal industry in Wyoming.

Cochran deferred making any recommendations for how the oil and gas industry should approach the sage grouse conservation issue. That didn't stop British Petroleum's Dave Brown, manager of regulatory affairs, from saying his industry could learn a great deal from coal miners.

Brown was also speaking on behalf of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, which represents the companies producing 90 percent of the state's natural gas and two-thirds of the state's crude oil output.

Brown said PAW had convened agricultural and industrial experts from Wyoming and Montana to come up with a set of recommendations for how to improve industry practices in and around sage grouse habitat.

"We didn't call it best practices, because we don't know yet what is best," he said. He said it would soon appear on the Web site of PAW, so as to share practices.

He said PAW is recommending against new surface disturbances within a quarter mile of grouse breeding grounds and a two-mile buffer around brood rearing habitat. Brown said more companies are experimenting with directional drilling, which by drilling many holes from one drilling pad, reduces the impact on the landscape. Directional drilling, however, is highly dependent on favorable geology, Brown said.

PAW is also working with the Wyoming chapter of The Nature Conservancy on off-site mitigation science and methodologies.

After Brown's presentation, Freudenthal noted that he continues to "get drillers in my office who don't want to do anything for the sage grouse." The governor said that if 10 companies are doing great work voluntarily, and two aren't helping the situation, that doesn't work for him.

"I need to see some willingness that these recommendations will be required," he said.

Freudenthal praised the effort by PAW to promote good practices, but "100 percent of what I deal with comes from 20 percent of the companies."

In the absence of federal standards - such as those that guide the state's coal mining industry - Freudenthal asked how good conservation practices can be translated throughout the industry.

Brown said it was in the industry's best interests to do so, or else run the risk of unacceptable impacts on the environment and sage grouse, which would compromise what other companies are trying to do.

Bureau of Land Management State Director Bob Bennett asked whether best practices might be a role for the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Other state commissions have such standards, summit participants noted.

Brown said the commission could be a clearinghouse of information, "if they'd like to take that on."

Erik Molvar, director of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, a Laramie-based conservation group, said PAW's recommendations were less protective of the environment and sage grouse than those required by the BLM.

"Shouldn't PAW be recommending something that's stronger?" Molvar asked.

Brown defended the recommendations as being effective.

Steve Torbit, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said Wyoming was looking at its last chance to save the sage grouse from being listed. He related a long, discouraging history of previous conferences and initiatives to deal with energy development's impacts on sage grouse. All previous studies were ignored, he said.

Torbit noted research that sage grouse breeding grounds in energy-developed parts of the Powder River Basin are in decline, with only 30 percent of the leks still active after development.

In particular, Torbit warned that the spread of cheatgrass could dramatically harm sagebrush habitat in Wyoming. The flammable grass has taken over or destroyed a million acres of sagebrush habitats in Nevada, he warned, and it could happen here, with devastating impacts on sage grouse.

Torbit suggested the governor convene a sage grouse task force, which could share data and develop strategies. Tobit suggested that Freudenthal use his chairmanship position within the Western Governors Association to involve other states in the mission to save the sage grouse.

Torbit was also critical of the BLM, saying that multiple use doesn't mean turning the land over to the energy industry, or predicating habitat protection only for lands with no mineral values.

Torbit suggested that a sage grouse task force could test key issues, such as whether the quarter-mile buffer really works. He urged "emergency room" steps that can be done right away, such as washing all vehicles entering sage grouse habitat to prevent the spread of exotic weeds.

Although industry says it cannot phase in development, Torbit said companies should get together and "unitize" development, so as to move in an orderly way across the landscape. "That would give us valuable time," he said.