PINEDALE – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pinedale Field Office (PFO), in cooperation with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, will release two technical groundwater reports as required by the Pinedale Anticline Project Area (PAPA) Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Record of Decision (ROD) and completed as part of the Interim Groundwater/Aquifer Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Monitoring Plan.
The Evaluation of Potential Sources of Low Level Petroleum Hydrocarbon Compound Detected in Groundwater report provides information regarding the investigation and study of potential sources of low level petroleum hydrocarbon compounds detected in multiple water supply wells used for the development of oil and gas in the PAPA.
The Numerical Groundwater Modeling report provides information regarding the fate and transport of potential contaminant releases within the Wasatch Formation, should they occur.
Both reports will be available to the public on Nov. 19. A complementary Hydrogeological Data Gaps report which discusses regional aquifer characteristics, including general water quality characteristics, flow gradients, basin water budget, and surface water/groundwater interaction, was previously released. All groundwater study documents are available online at https://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/field_offices/Pinedale/anticline/resources/water.html.
At 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 22, the PFO will host the SEIS ROD Annual Planning Meeting to discuss the results of both reports. This meeting is open to the public. The report results will be used to inform the public and agency decision makers as work progresses toward the drafting and completion of the Final Groundwater/Aquifer Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Monitoring Plan. No completion date has been identified for the final plan.
An agenda for the Annual Planning Meeting will be provided at the same time the reports are made available to the public.
For more information:
BLM Wyoming contact: Merry Gamper, Project Lead, 307-775-6272, or by email at [email protected].
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality contact: Mark Thiesse, 307-777-7072, or by email at [email protected].
Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 contact: Andrew Schmidt, 303-312-6283, or by email at [email protected].
