Day 3: What About Our Air?
Dressed in a comfy green sweater, black jeans and a pair of house slippers, Dr. Tom Johnson begrudgingly offers one of his wife’s chocolate-chip cookies (he’s not one for sharing things of such value, but in the spirit of polite company, he’ll make an exception) and settles into a green wingback chair, the fireplace flickering behind him. His tone is honest and matter-of-fact, the kind of tone one might appreciate from a doctor who is about to break bad news. The question? How has your life changed since the rise in energy development? “Don’t write. Just listen,” he says on a day in February. “I talk a lot, and I talk in parables, and you’ll just have to get used to it.” (Read more »)
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- Equipment on a drill pad releases an emission into the night air at a Jonah Field work site near Pinedale in February. The Jonah Field is estimated to contain 10.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Michael Smith/staff
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- Physician and public health official for Sublette County Tom ÒDocÓ Johnson speaks about air quality at his home in Pinedale. WyomingÕs biggest natural gas development, the Jonah Field, has become a test case for the amount of pollution that future drilling will cause. The BLM approved plans that call for adding 3,100 wells to the 1,000 already existing in the region. Michael Smith/staff
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- A herd of elk run as a tractor-trailer drives past on U.S. Highway 191 north of Rock Springs in February. Gas exploration roads, gas compression and water pumping installations, and pads for gas wells destroy native sage bushes, many of which are more than 100 years old. Michael Smith/staff
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- Pinedale resident Mary Lynn Worl listens as her friend Elaine Crumpley speaks about the air quality in their community at the Rock Rabbit Coffee Shop in February. Michael Smith/staff
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- A dead antelope lies on the side of U.S. Highway 189 north of Big Piney after being hit by a motor vehicle earlier in February. The BLM approved an additional 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field. These additional wells bring the total well density to 64 to 128 wells per square mile. At this density, two-thirds of the 33,000-acre project area would become roads or drilling sites. Michael Smith/staff
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- Storage tanks sit in the Jonah Field near Pinedale earlier in February. The BLM approved an additional 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which already contains 500 wells. These additional wells bring the total well density to 64 to 128 wells per square mile. At this density, two-thirds of the 33,000-acre project area would become roads or drilling sites. Michael Smith/staff
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- Pinedale resident Elaine Crumpley looks down as she speaks about the deterioration of quality of life in her community at the Rock Rabbit Coffee Shop in February. Michael Smith/staff
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- A drilling rig sits in the Jonah Field with the Wind River Mountain Range in the background near Pinedale earlier in February. The BLM approved an additional 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which already contains 500 wells. These additional wells bring the total well density to 64 to 128 wells per square mile. At this density, two-thirds of the 33,000-acre project area would become roads or drilling sites. Michael Smith/staff
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- Weld County Commissioner Dave Long drives up to a drilling site near the Jake well in northern Colorado in February. Michael Smith/staff
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- An antelope walks through a multiple-use zoning area in Rock Springs in early February. Michael Smith/staff
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- A drilling rig sits in the Jonah Field with the Wind River Mountain Range in the background near Pinedale earlier in February. The BLM approved an additional 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which already contains 500 wells. These additional wells bring the total well density to 64 to 128 wells per square mile. At this density, two-thirds of the 33,000-acre project area would become roads or drilling sites. Michael Smith/staff
A drilling rig sits in the Jonah Field with the Wind River Mountain Range in the background near Pinedale earlier in February. The BLM approved an additional 3,100 wells in the Jonah Field, which already contains 500 wells. These additional wells bring the total well density to 64 to 128 wells per square mile. At this density, two-thirds of the 33,000-acre project area would become roads or drilling sites. Michael Smith/staff
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- Protest signs against energy development in the Wyoming Range in Daniel, WY. Michael Smith/staff
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- Rig workers maneuver to reinsert a pipe after a drill bit change on a Chesapeake drill rig in February north of Douglas. Chesapeake holds a large percentage of the leases in the play and anticipates producing 5 billion barrels of oil over the life of the field, according to company officials. Michael Smith/staff
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- Man camps at an industrial area called Sand Draw in the Jonah Field near Pinedale earlier in February. Michael Smith/staff
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