Far from over

The voice of the town, county and state agencies has been heard, as over the past couple weeks several letters went out to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in response to a proposed DEQ permit to allow water carrying several tons of oilfield pollutants into Boysen Reservoir. That permit came with the idea that the pollutants would not degrade the water quality.

Unfortunately for us here in Thermopolis, there was no notice given about this permit and the deadline for any comment we could give — likely in writing or email, as the online site provided no form to submit — was rapidly approaching.

With the response from the town, county, state and even the nation — one of the letters was from the Environmental Protection Agency — the Wyoming Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program has instead extended the comment period until July 5 and set a public hearing for information and comment for May 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the high school auditorium

These are small victories in the fight to keep the water we receive from Boysen Reservoir as clean as possible. Used for everyday activities, we owe it to ourselves and future to fight this every step of the way. Sure the amount of water compared to pollutants being dumped in might provide enough dilution that we won’t be impacted this year, perhaps even the next. But Wyoming has suffered droughts in the past and will so in the future. Those droughts mean less water and less dilution of any pollutants, therefore more pollutants coming into our water sources.

Our government officials have done their part in keeping our water safe, for now, but it now falls on every resident in Thermopolis and the surrounding area to bring their voices to the forefront. Plan now to attend the upcoming public meeting at the auditorium on May 21 at 5:30. Let those who think they can decide what to dump in the water know who it’s affecting. The battle for the safety of one of our greatest resources is just beginning, and it’s up to us to see it through.