Gas companies turn attention back to Clark area in Wyoming

The Associated Press

Exploration for oil occurred in Park County, Wyoming’s Elk and Oregon basins many years ago, but companies only found natural gas and moved on.

That gas now is drawing them back to this tiny community just south of the Montana line.

Two oil and gas development projects are in the works, a 20-mile gas pipeline and a 47-square-mile seismic survey. Both are proposed by Windsor Wyoming on private, state and federal land.

The pipeline would link Windsor’s existing gas wells in Clark to Elk Basin, where storage tanks are planned near the county landfill.

“Basically we’re just digging up the ground, putting in the pipe and covering it back up again,” said Rick Kirkenslager, contractor for Windsor Energy Group. “It will probably be the greenest spot out there in Clark.”

The company has already received permission from at least seven landowners but has not yet won blessings from the BLM, Park County or all the property owners.

An application is on file at the Cody Field Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, but it is still incomplete, said Becky Heick, an assistant field manager for BLM.

County commissioners say they support the idea in principle but have not yet received an application for the right of way permit and easement, County Landfill Manager Dave Hoffert said.

Some property owners, such as Brad and Cindy Cicci, might not be sold on the idea at all. The Clark residents have proposed an alternative route that avoids their land.

“The more we look at the pipeline, the more we don’t want it to come across our property,” Cindy Cicci said. “We would just as soon they keep it on public property or county roads so they wouldn’t have to deal with us at all.”

Windsor Wyoming has asked to complete a seismic survey west of Clark this fall. About 70 shot holes would be loaded with a 10-pound explosive charge and detonated to provide a map of the minerals underground.

The bulk of the project kicked off June 8 with the release of a scoping statement.