Day 4: Water Worries
One does not really conquer a place like this,” Marc Reisner writes in his book, “Cadillac Desert.” “One inhabits it like an occupying army and makes, at best, an uneasy truce with it.” So it stands to reason that when questions over oil development’s impact on water in southeast Wyoming arise, they evoke considerable ire. Eking out a living in the West is no small task. And bad water is a deal breaker. (Read more ยป)
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- A pump jack and clouds are reflected in a pool of water after an early morning rain shower at a site off County Road 222 in central Laramie County last week. The energy industry has 150 permits to drill in Laramie County, and it could take between 48 million and 70 million gallons of water to drill and frack one well. Michael Smith/staff
A pump jack and clouds are reflected in a pool of water after an early morning rain shower at a site off County Road 222 in central Laramie County last week. The energy industry has 150 permits to drill in Laramie County, and it could take between 48 million and 70 million gallons of water to drill and frack one well. Michael Smith/staff
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- Drill pipes sit outside an Anadarko rig in southern Laramie County. The pipes are a thick-walled steel piping that is used to facilitate the drilling of a well. They are hollow to allow drilling fluid to be pumped through them. Michael Smith/staff
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- Water drips off some grass as a rig drill in the background near Hillsdale in April. Michael Smith/staff
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- Anadarko operations manager Randy Sprouse Anadarko points to grooves in polycrystalline diamond bit at rig site in Laramie County. Michael Smith/staff
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- Drilling floorman Jose Gomez helps load a section of pipe on an Anadarko rig at a southern Laramie County well pad in March. Anadarko uses a closed loop system for conserving water, which allows operators to recycle water. Michael Smith/staff
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- A rig drill is reflected in a pool of rain water on a dirt road near Hillsdale in April. Michael Smith/staff
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- Rig worker Mike Emerson holds onto a section of pipe nearly 30 feet in the air during operations at an Anadarko drilling rig in southern Laramie County in March. Michael Smith/staff
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- Drilling floorman Cory Zabokrtsky lubes the threads of a section of pipe on an Anadarko rig at a southern Laramie County well pad in March. Anadarko uses a closed loop system for conserving water, which allows operators to recycle water. Michael Smith/staff
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- Water drops collect on some grass as a rig drill in the background near Hillsdale in April. Michael Smith/staff
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- A row of fracking tanks sits on a piece of Wyoming State Trust Land in southern Laramie County in February. Michael Smith/staff
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- A pump jack and clouds are reflected in a pool of water after an early morning rain shower at a site off County Road 222 in central Laramie County last week. The energy industry has 150 permits to drill in Laramie County, and it could take between 48 million and 70 million gallons of water to drill and frack one well. Michael Smith/staff
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- Water drops collect on some grass as a rig drill in the background near Hillsdale in April. Michael Smith/staff
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- Mike Lenin monitors the closed loop dewatering system on an Anadarko rig at a southern Laramie County well pad in March. The system sifts out the solids, such as the cuttings from the bottom of the well, and allows drill operations to reuse the fluids. Michael Smith/staff
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- Rig worker Mike Emerson climbs nearly 30 feet in the air during operations at an Anadarko drilling rig in southern Laramie County in March. Michael Smith/staff
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- A water truck arrives at an industrial site north of Hillsdale in Laramie County last week. Water trucks can carry up to 6,000 gallons of water. State Engineer Pat Tyrrell suspects there were an additional 13,000 truckloads of water on southeast Wyoming's roads in the past year. Michael Smith/staff
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- Water drops collect on some vegitation as a rig drill in the background near Hillsdale in April. Michael Smith/staff
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