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Pinedale Online > News > May 2008 > Sunday Sit-In on the Anticline

In front of the BLM. Photo by Sue Sommers.
In front of the BLM
Before beginning the carpool caravan to the well pad, the group assembled in front of the new BLM building to sing “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Signs on the highway. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Signs on the highway
Showing signs to passerbys on Hwy 191 in front of the Pinedale BLM office building.

At the well pad. Photo by Sue Sommers.
At the well pad
Elaine Crumpley, event organizer, addresses the group at the Questar well pad. David Smith provided the sound system for the event.
Sunday Sit-In on the Anticline
Peaceful Protest
by Sue Sommers
May 5, 2008

About 60 men, women and children assembled at the Pinedale Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office building at noon Sunday to take part in a peaceful demonstration expressing dissatisfaction with the environmental impacts brought by gas development in Sublette County. This action was primarily inspired by the numerous ozone alerts this winter and the pervasive feeling of distrust those events engendered, but people seemed equally worried about wildlife, soil and water quality and the future health of the area’s children. Participants brought or made posters in the parking lot. Some displayed their placards alongside the highway to passing traffic, eliciting a few honks.

Then everyone quickly carpooled and formed a caravan for the trip to the Anticline. By about 1:30 everyone had arrived at the Questar site, which had been previously approved by the company and the BLM. The site was an enormous scraped-off area surrounded by high mounds of soil. The location dwarfed the group, which would have filled most of a meeting room in Pinedale. Two large pits occupied the north edge of the site, but there was no major equipment or active work occurring. People pulled out folding chairs and blankets and collected around a small trailer that had been equipped as a speaker’s platform. An acrid smell irritated eyes, noses and throats throughout the two-hour sit-in.

Security was provided by two BLM rangers and a Sublette County Sheriff’s deputy. Questar donated two porta-potties for the gathering.

Event organizer Elaine Crumpley cheerfully greeted the crowd by saying, “Welcome to my pad!” Then, a number of informed locals spoke, including Horton Spitzer, Rollie Sparrowe, Bob McCarty, Mary Lynn Worl, Sally Mackey, Linda Baker and Tracy McCarty.

Several people presented original music inspired by gas development issues. Jared Rogerson performed “Boomtown,” which summed up about all the impacts a resident might be experiencing right now in Pinedale. Vee sang a ballad about a dwindling and ill-fated antelope herd that finds itself amid subdivisions and gas wells at the end of its migration. A troupe of Pinedale High School girls sang “Please Leave Our Range,” a song addressed to the BLM and the gas companies. It asked, in the plaintive and innocent voice of youth, why these entities don’t seem to care about what is happening to the land and community, and why they lie so much. The pointed lyrics moved many to tears. In a refreshing break from the expected, Morgan Holz performed a skilled reading of Dr. Seuss’ famous environmental bedtime story, “The Lorax.” The concluding message of the tale, urging children to take better care of the land than their forebears have, was a sobering one given the number of youngsters, from toddlers to teens, in the audience.

It wasn’t exactly “Rigstock,” and it might not change the world, but it seemed to do these folks a world of good to show up, be counted, and share their efforts and ideas.



Blowin in the Wind. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Blowin in the Wind
Before beginning the carpool caravan to the well pad, the group assembled in front of the new BLM building to sing “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Peaceful Protestors. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Peaceful Protestors
Peaceful protestors gather in front of the Pinedale Bureau of Land Management office before carpooling out to the Pinedale Anticline gas well field.

In front of the BLM. Photo by Sue Sommers.
In front of the BLM
Peaceful demonstrators display placards to traffic on Highway 191 in front of the BLM building.

Signs along the highway. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Signs along the highway
Protestors show drivers along the highway their signs.

Gas field pit. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Gas field pit
Demonstrators look at the two pits at the well pad. There was a small amount of fluid, and an acrid odor that was noticeable all over the site.

On the Anticline. Photo by Sue Sommers.
On the Anticline
Pits in the foreground, Wind River Range in the background. This is a typical view on the Pinedale Anticline.

Arranging signs. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Arranging signs
A protester arranges her signs. The vehicles in the background belonged to Questar personnel who monitored the event.

Sally Mackey. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Sally Mackey
Sally Mackey, a founding member of the Wagon Wheel Action Committee, provides a brief history lesson and update on the group’s mission. The Wagon Wheel Committee helped stop the underground detonation of nuclear bombs on the Anticline as a way to extract natural gas in the early 1970s.

Singing. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Singing
Upper Green songwriter Vee sings a powerful original number in memory of the 21 antelope run down by a tanker truck last year.

Morgan Holz Reading. Photo by Sue Sommers.
Morgan Holz Reading
Morgan Holz performs a reading of Dr. Seuss’ famous environmental bedtime story, “The Lorax.”

High School Jazz Band. Photo by Sue Sommers.
High School Jazz Band
Students from the Pinedale High School jazz band perform “Please Leave Our Range,” a song they wrote about gas development.

Please Leave Our Range. Photo by .
Please Leave Our Range
A troupe of Pinedale High School girls sang “Please Leave Our Range,” a song addressed to the BLM and the gas companies.
Pinedale Online > News > May 2008 > Sunday Sit-In on the Anticline

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