RIVERTON (WNE) — Oil and gas companies hoping to drill in the Moneta Divide have earned the general blessing of the Bureau of Land Management – but the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality still will have to sign off on the quality discharged water.
The federal entity announced Friday that is has approved the development of up to 4,250 oil and gas wells for the region stretching between Shoshoni and Casper in parts of both Fremont and Natrona Counties – more than 300,000 acres of mostly public lands.
The BLM called it an effort toward “responsible domestic energy production in Wyoming,” in a Friday statement.
Local governments and state programs rely on royalties from minerals projects like the ones previously operating under old permits in the Moneta Divide region.
If drillers Aethon Energy and Burlington Resources or others proceed, the activity could generate about $182 million a year in federal royalties, $87.5 million in Wyoming severance taxes, and $106 million a year in county and ad valorem taxes, according to previous reports.
Expansion would be a significant employer as well, both through drilling and production of wells and in monitoring and testing afterward.
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