A new report compiled by the Bureau of Land Management says industry has more impediments to energy development in Wyoming’s Green River Basin than previously estimated, as more land holding natural gas has restrictions on drilling.
Lease restrictions on federal acreage in Green River Basin jumped to 50 percent from 37 percent in the new analysis. [...]

Though oil and gas drilling throughout the state is near record levels, the coal-bed methane industry is trailing 20 percent behind last year’s average of 50 rigs, according to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The delay is attributed to difficulties in obtaining water discharge permits for the produced groundwater associated with coal-bed methane. Regulatory [...]

Oil and gas drilling in national forests should be allowed as industry works with land managers to put environmental safeguards in place, an energy executive said Monday.
Bruce Hinchey with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming said he doesn’t agree with U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas’s statement Saturday that national forests should generally be off-limits to new drilling.
“I [...]