New report finds support for both wildlife preservation, energy exploration

New report finds support for both wildlife preservation, energy exploration

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News staff

New research about Americans’ attitudes toward energy exploration and environmental protection on public lands near Yellowstone National Park finds support for both, with a national survey indicating that most Americans prefer that natural gas production not come at the expense of wildlife preservation.

A new Rice University study reveals that Americans support both energy exploration and environmental protection on public lands near Yellowstone National Park in Southwestern Wyoming.

Today, Southwestern Wyoming is the most active region in the country for natural gas exploration. Energy companies plan to drill more than 3,000 new wells there during the next 50 years.

The findings are detailed in a new Rice University report that is based on both national and local surveys. The local polls were conducted in Sublette County, Wyo., an area about 100 miles south of Yellowstone where energy companies are rapidly developing more than 250,000 acres of natural gas fields.

The research was conducted by students in Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management under the supervision of Marc Epstein, distinguished research professor of management, and Sally Widener, assistant professor of management. Project funding came from Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability and from Shell Exploration and Production Company.

“From a sustainability standpoint, Pinedale offers tremendous opportunity for studying the balance between development and conservation,” Epstein said. “We hope our report will be useful to decision makers in industry, government and the conservation community.”

He said the report also may be valuable to other researchers conducting development case studies in the United States and abroad.

“This study helps establish a baseline for consideration of critical issues like wildlife inventories and residential development,” Epstein said. “If the academic community can establish a common set of criteria for comparing case studies, we can begin looking for a set of strategies that will benefit communities all over the world.”

Sublette County is home to two of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, the sprawling Pinedale Anticline, located just west of the town of Pinedale, and the smaller Jonah. Discovered more than 50 years ago, the fields lay fallow until 1995, when new technology made it feasible for energy companies to drill profitably.

In 2000, the Bureau of Land Management issued a 20-year plan to allow more than 900 wells on the 200,000-acre anticline. In the adjacent 60,000-acre Jonah, the bureau this year proposed a 50-year plan that would allow more than 3,000 wells.

The gas fields sit astride the longest big-game migratory route in North America, a 500-mile corridor used by pronghorn antelope and mule deer to move between summer pastures around Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and winter ranges in Southern Wyoming.

Environmental concerns center upon the effects of both the drilling and associated residential development. One recent study projected that Sublette County, population 6,000, will grow by 29 percent during the next 10 years.

Christian Holmes, executive director of the Shell Center, said the combination of rapid change to the environment, economy and social fabric of the Pinedale community makes it a perfect place to study sustainable development.

“The very concept of sustainability — the idea that mankind can find a way to sustain its environment, society and economy for future generations — implies that decisions within those three realms are inextricably tied,” Holmes said. “Decisions about the environment or about resource development don’t occur in a vacuum, and ultimately, every community is faced with finding a proper balance among the three.”

Key findings from the study include:

• Residents of Sublette County do want residential and gas development to continue, but in a responsible manner, since these are currently perceived as two of the major threats to the environment. Gas production and residential development are seen as equally significant threats to the environment.

• The majority of local respondents favor a balance between development and environmental preservation. Residents want development to occur, with consideration given to the interests of wildlife and the environment.

• National and local attitudes are similar regarding residential development versus wildlife preservation. However, when asked about energy development, national respondents were more committed to preserving wildlife, even at a cost to energy development. Although the vast majority of the national respondents did not live in Wyoming and may have never visited the state, they preferred that wildlife be preserved rather than be negatively affected by energy development.

The report is available at <http://shellcenter.rice.edu>.