Southeast Idaho oil drilling creates controversy
In January, the U.S. Forest Service announced plans to lease areas of the Caribou National Forest for oil and gas exploration, an area including 970,000 acres in Idaho and 17,000 acres extending into Wyoming and Utah, according to a recent AP article.
The decision has spurred discussion in some conservation groups around the area.
Scott Christensen, Idaho conservation associate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition based in Idaho Falls, worries about the effect on roadless areas — ground designated by the Forest Service to keep new roads from being constructed. Christensen also fears that wildlife areas may be disturbed, and he cites examples in nearby states.
What we’re concerned about is just over the state line in Wyoming. In some places, the mule deer populations have dropped by 40 or 50 percent, and the pronghorn antelope migration has been fragmented and rerouted. We are concerned that [drilling here] will potentially mean that what is happening in Wyoming could be a reality in Idaho,
Christensen said.
Christensen is uncertain whether potential drilling would yield any resources.
What the Forest Service has told us so far is that there are few oil wells that have come up with very little oil or gas. At this point, we’re nervous about the prospect of oil or gas because we’ve seen the impacts in Wyoming. It remains to be seen whether there are sufficient oil or gas deposits [worth the drilling effort] in the Caribou National Forest,
Christensen said.
Students at BYU‑Idaho have also expressed concern about the possibility of drilling for oil and gas in the Caribou National Forest.
I think it’s OK as long as they have the newer equipment so that it doesn’t affect the animals as badly. But if they have the older equipment and it is affecting the animals poorly, then I am against it,
said Jana Mortimer, a freshman from Rigby, Idaho.
Some professionals believe there are potential drilling areas in Idaho that might fulfill the oil industry’s goal of discovering new productive areas.
The data indicate that we have rocks in this region that are potential source rocks for producing oil or gas. We also have structures favorable for trapping oil or gas accumulation,
said Mark Lovell, chair of the Geology Department at BYU‑I.
Lovell does not believe that drilling poses as much danger to the environment as it has in the past.
The technologies over the last couple of decades have developed to where they can drill with very small drilling footprints, so I think there are ways they can do drilling to not be destructive,
Lovell said.
Christensen encourages students to voice their own opinions.
If students care about fish and wildlife and are interested in what goes on in some areas they like to recreate in, get involved, either by contacting the Greater Yellowstone Coalition or getting involved in the Forest Service’s processes. Lots of students spend time outdoors and need to realize they benefit greatly from the landscapes. If they care about them enough, they should tell the forest service how they feel about the threat to the wildlife,
Christensen said. 
