Irina Zhorov

Seismic exploration company, GeoKinetics, has been fined for failing to properly reclaim land damaged during work it did with Fidelity Exploration and Production Company in southeast Wyoming.

Last May, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a fine for $20,000 for damages to ranchers’ land, but half of it was suspended pending successful reclamation. Now the remaining $10,000 has been re-imposed by the Commission.

During its hearing today/Tuesday, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reaffirmed its earlier decision to grant Encana an exemption that permits them to pump produced water deep into the Madison aquifer. The injection well is located about 60 miles west of Casper.

The oil and gas development company asked for the exemption based on the Commission’s economic and technological impracticality criteria…which grants an exemption based on the idea that it’s impractical to use the aquifer for drinking water anyway.

During its hearing today/Tuesday, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reaffirmed its earlier decision to grant Encana an exemption that permits them to pump produced water deep into the Madison aquifer. The injection well is located about 60 miles west of Casper.

The oil and gas development company asked for the exemption based on the Commission’s economic and technological impracticality criteria…which grants an exemption based on the idea that it’s impractical to use the aquifer for drinking water anyway.

UW Economist Anne Alexander discusses the potential effects of the federal sequester on Wyoming
One thing everyone is trying to get a grip on is how the federal sequester will impact Wyoming.  Anne Alexander is an economist at the University of Wyoming.  She joined Bob Beck in the studio to discuss this.

Slash piles around the state are still intact in Wyoming, which is unusual. Slash piles are made of accumulated debris from clearing forests or trimming trees and typically by this time in the year, they’ve been burned.

The Fire Management Officer for the Wyoming State Forestry Division, Ron Graham, says they’ve started burning piles in the Casper Mountain, Muddy Mountain, and Black Hills area, but low snow pack has delayed the burning.

The Violence Against Women Act has now passed both the Senate and House of the US Congress.

The law seeks to address violent crimes against women, to aid in the prosecution of offenders, and to provide resources for victims. But Wyoming’s three congressional lawmakers all voted against renewing the bill.

Representative Cynthia Lummis says for her, the provision allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Native people who abuse Native women on reservations was the deciding factor.

The University of Wyoming is part of two weather modification studies. The first is the Wyoming Weather Modification Pilot Project, and the second, companion project is the Silver Iodide Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation, or ASCII. Both studies are trying to learn more about atmospheric processes and whether people can do anything to eke more moisture out of the skies. Professor Bart Geerts heads the ASCII campaign, which is finishing up its second and last year…

BACK ANNOUNCE:

A Medicaid fraud recovery bill has gotten initial approval from the House of Representatives. The bill would permit the state to investigate Medicaid fraud by medical providers and recipients without involving the federal government… Currently investigations only go forward when the federal government decides to investigate.

Representative Elaine Harvey says the bill is necessary to recover millions of dollars for the state.

Coal is weakening its dominion over the energy market, and according to a presentation at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, new EPA regulations are not to blame.

Wyoming lawmakers including Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis have pointed to what they call President Obama’s war on coal as the reason for declining coal production.

But David Schlissel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis -- who led the presentation -- says other factors are responsible.

Increased coal exports overseas bring up questions of royalty payments
Coal producers in the U.S. are looking to markets abroad to make up for decreasing demand at home. But a recent investigation by Thomson Reuters news service suggests there might be royalty underpayments on those shipments. Wyoming Public Radio’s Irina Zhorov reports that royalty question is still unresolved.

The Western Organization of Resource Councils says inspections of active oil and gas wells in the West are falling behind the industry’s quick growth. The new report says the number of active oil and gas wells in Wyoming has risen from about 16,400 in 1999 to more than 37,000 in 2011. The number of inspectors increased from 6 to 12 in the same time period. Each inspector was responsible for more than 3,000 wells in 2011. 

Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Chairman John Fenton says that spreads each inspector thin.

A bill creating a Wyoming lottery has passed in the House Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions committee. Supporters of the bill said that the lottery would bring money to the state for to-be-determined purposes.

Opponents testified that a small state like Wyoming would not make much of a profit. Wyoming Association of Churches representative Chesie Lee said that’s not including other societal costs.

“That’s not looking at all the negative costs to individual who do have addictions (sic) problems and the destruction of families,” Lee says.

After nearly two hours of debate, the Senate gave initial approval to a bill that would require companies doing seismic exploration for minerals to post bonds or negotiate a contract with the surface owners.

Supporters of the bill say that seismic operators sometimes trespass onto private property, and current bond requirements are too low to encourage good-faith negotiations between surface owners and companies wanting to explore.

Several environmental groups went to district court today in Casper to argue that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission must disclose information about chemicals being used in hydraulic fracturing around the state. Wyoming was the first state to require companies to disclose such information, yet since that law went into effect, the Oil and Gas Commission has granted almost all secrecy requests from companies claiming that some of the chemicals are proprietary information.

A bill that would raise the gas tax by ten cents has passed the House Revenue Committee. Revenue from the increased taxes would fund highway construction and maintenance throughout the state, a sector that’s currently underfunded.

Chairman of the House Revenue Committee, Michael Madden, says the measure is supported by many groups.

"About every engine that makes our economy run, we had strong support for this bill. And the overall gist of the thing was that Wyoming runs on roads and it’s too important of an asset to watch deteriorate. "

A bill that changes the qualifications for the position of Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Supervisor has unanimously passed the State Senate.

The bill changes the requirements for the Supervisor from a registered professional petroleum engineer or geologist, to an engineer or geologist with ten years of experience in his respective field of expertise.

Energy and Legislative advocate with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Richard Garrett, says it may be valuable to consider applicants’ assets fully.

Rep. Lummis appointed to US House Subcommittee on Energy
Wyoming’s Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis has been appointed to chair the U.S. House of Representatives’ Science Subcommittee on Energy. The subcommittee will oversee energy research, development and demonstration projects. Lummis spoke with Rebecca Martinez from the Capitol press room in Cheyenne this week.

The Senate Education Committee quickly passed a bill that would create a governor-appointed director position for the education department, and reduce the powers of the current state superintendent. 

Committee Chairman Senator Hank Coe says tension between the Legislature, Superintendent, the Department of Education, and the State Board has been going on since 1985 and it was time to fix it.  

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is asking state legislators to vote on two bills that would add funding to the agency in 2014. The first bill would raise license fees for hunters and anglers. The second bill would establish a raffle for big game and trophy hunts.

The Department’s Eric Keszler says they’ve already cut down their budget where they could.

The Department of Environmental Quality will start to provide regular updates about ozone levels in the Upper Green River Basin on January 2. The region is designated by the EPA as a non-attainment area because of its high ozone levels in past years. The long term goal is to reduce local industry’s emissions and improve air quality, but for now the DEQ wants to warn residents when elevated ozone levels might occur.

The unemployment rate in Wyoming continues to decrease.

The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services reports that November’s workless rate was 5-point-one percent, the lowest it’s been since spring of 2009.

Numbers have gone down little by little since the 5-point-seven percent unemployment rate reported at this time last year and Wyoming continues to stay significantly lower than the national average of 7-point-7 percent.

Jackson tourism officials are expecting a busy New Year’s holiday. 

The lodging barometer, which measures lodging bookings for the valley shows occupancy at 72-percent of full for the Saturday before New Year’s.  That’s up significantly from last year’s 59-percent and the 49-percent that was recorded in 2010.

Kate Foster of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce says the turnaround is based on a couple of things.

Meetings about proposals to expand ports for coal exports going to Asia drew strong criticism from residents in the northwestern U.S., mostly environmental concerns. Wyoming wants to increase its exports of coal to markets like Europe and Asia and needs more port capacity in order to do that.

Director of the Wyoming Mining Association, Marion Loomis, says the hearings are part of the process and shouldn't delay the ports’ opening.

Wyoming is still a frontier of sorts, a place where many continue to hunt in wide open spaces. And sometimes they sing about it, too. Wyoming Public Radio’s Irina Zhorov reports that Julian Saporiti is collecting those cowboy poets’ songs to share with others.

ZHOROV: Julian Saporiti is not from Wyoming…

JULIAN SAPORITI: Like this how not-Wyoming or Western I am. I’ve never ridden a horse in my life. I’ve been on a pony ride going around in a circle in a grocery store parking lot when I was 6. That’s the extent of my cowboyisms.

Converse County oil boom draws concerns from residents
In October, we reported that Chesapeake Energy had drilled a series of oil wells near Douglas, very close to people’s houses. Chesapeake says the area will likely continue to be a core drilling region. That has some area residents uneasy. Wyoming Public Radio’s Willow Belden reports.

UW's concert ensembles will perform an eclectic mix of compositions for this year's gala holiday concert, called Holidays Around the World. Wyoming Public Radio's Irina Zhorov spoke with one of the conductors, Director of Orchestral Activities, Michael Griffith.