Pinedale and the sagebrush around it is a natural gas mecca for Wyoming. But also the nation just a couple of decades ago during its boom.
Revenues from the industry have touched just about everything, like, relatively affordable childcare, a turf football field, state of the art recreation center, a community room with 3-D printers and wood carving machines, and endless paved bike paths.
But all these amenities are possibly at risk. A court has blocked a major natural gas expansion project that some locals hoped would keep money rolling into the community.
‘Something to do in the winter’
On a recent evening in Pinedale, one can see the glow in the skyline from natural gas activity. But right in town, there’s a large brick building with classrooms.
Tonight? It’s pottery.
“So, what you're going to do is wet your hand,” said instructor Stephanie Hunter, who’s demonstrating the pottery wheel technique. “So, the big thing is that you shouldn't be moving with the clay. You are moving the clay.”
Megan Wild is making a vase. She’s one of a handful of adults taking the six-week course.
“Something to do in the winter in Pinedale,” Wild chuckled. “Yeah, get out of the house.”
This class costs $90. A similar class in Denver is $300. The reason it’s so cheap? It’s housed under the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).
“We are taxpayer funded. So we're not in the business of making money,” said Robin Schamber, who heads it up for Pinedale.
BOCES’ budget and natural gas: a slow decline
BOCES’ are all over the country. Local school districts can partner with a community college to offer anything rooted in education.
For the Pinedale BOCES, Schamber said that includes paying for “unlimited college classes for the kids in high school.”
Also, tens of thousands of dollars in grants to bring musicians to play a summer concert series. Dozens of community classes ranging from accounting to skate skiing to learning how to fly a plane.
Their funding comes from taxpayers, which in Pinedale is mostly from natural gas companies.
“So, this is kind of like trends of natural gas over time,” said Schamber, pointing to her computer screen.
She’s made a series of spreadsheets and graphs. One shows natural gas prices over time with BOCES’ budget superimposed – the two lines are almost identical.
“You can see the heyday of oil and gas right there,” she said.
The heyday was 2008-ish. That’s when the area’s Jonah Field was booming. It was one of the top natural gas operations in the country.
The BOCES budget that year was $2.7 million.
But now? Schamber said it’s about $600,000.
“That was bad gas prices and production starting to go down,” she said about the nearly 80% drop over the last couple of decades.
Schamber noted that the general decline wasn’t a shock; she’s been watching it.
The court decision
What was shocking was a court throwing out plans for a new natural gas field in the area. The lawsuit had to do with air quality, something the community has struggled with since the boom.
Environmental watchdogs are celebrating the outcome that was almost a decade in the making. But Schamber was hoping for those gas revenues.
“It wasn't like it was going to be like, ‘Oh, it's going to give us a heyday again.’ That was not the expectation at all,” she said. “I think it was just softening the curve.”
Without that project, the future of the industry that’s fed the community for decades is a big question mark.
“Nobody expected this decision,” said Paul Ulrich, vice president of Jonah Energy, which operates the Jonah Field.
Their expansion that just got shut down was called the Normally Pressured Lance (NPL) project. They could’ve drilled up to 3,500 wells. For comparison, the once booming Jonah has a little over 2,600 wells now.
Ulrich said all that new activity could’ve kept them busy in the Pinedale area for another few decades. Without it?
“We estimate we've got a few years of life left in the Jonah field,” he said.
Ulrich said they’re considering legal options, but if the decision stands, they might take their business elsewhere.
And that would hit BOCES’ budget hard.
Kiddos, dinos and the future
Legally, BOCES has to offer college credits for high schoolers. But everything else, like that pottery class and their relatively affordable childcare, is on shaky ground.
“Hey guys, clothes, boots off, shoes on, hats, gloves,” a pre-school instructor said to little kiddos dressed in snowsuits.
They’re coming in for lunch after playing outside. And top of mind? Dinosaurs.
“What’s a dinosaur that eats meat?” said one tiny tot.
“Have you heard of a brontosaurus?” said another.
There’s a waiting list of parents needing childcare. The need is highest for infants, and BOCES is one of two centers in town that’ll take them.
Whether that care will exist down the road may hinge on local natural gas production. Or, the community pivoting to another economic driver.
