Draft EIS Appendix 15 

APPENDIX 15—FLUID MINERAL BEST MANAGEMENT 

PRACTICES 

Best management practices (BMP) are innovative, dynamic, and economically feasible mitigation

measures applied on a site-specific basis to reduce, prevent, or avoid adverse environmental or social 

impacts. BMPs are applied to management actions to aid in achieving desired outcomes for safe, 

environmentally sound resource development, by preventing, minimizing, or mitigating adverse impacts, 

and reducing conflicts. 

REDUCING IMPACTS TO BIG GAME CRUCIAL WINTER RANGE

The following BMPs should be applied to reduce impacts to big game crucial winter range: 

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Directional drilling

Drilling of multiple wells from a single pad 

Remote well monitoring

Piping of produced liquids to centralized tank batteries off site to reduce traffic to individual

wells 

Transportation planning (to reduce road density and traffic volumes) 

Cluster development

Compensation mitigation

Seasonal restriction of public vehicular access 

Monitoring of wildlife populations during drilling operations and design and employment of

additional best management practices whenever monitoring identifies undesirable impacts. 

REDUCING IMPACTS TO SAGE-GROUSE HABITAT

The following BMPs should be applied to reduce impacts to sage-grouse habitat: 

Directional drilling

Drilling of multiple wells from a single pad 

Seasonal restriction of public vehicular access 

Noise reduction techniques and designs 

Use of low profile well facilities and tanks 

Burying of power lines to avoid use of poles and other tall structures 

Transportation planning to align roads out of sight and sound of leks, and to schedule traffic to 

avoid sage-grouse activity periods 

Design of roads to minimum safe standard for intended use 

Partial reclamation of high-standard roads needed for project construction to lower standards 

necessary for maintenance operations 

Monitoring of wildlife populations during drilling operations and design and employ additional 

best management practices whenever monitoring identifies undesirable impacts

Avoidance of surface disturbance or occupancy within 1⁄4 mile of the perimeter of occupied sagegrouse leks 

Avoidance of human activity between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. from March 1 through May 20

within 1⁄4 mile of the perimeter of occupied sage-grouse leks (These times and dates reflect 

recommendations from Wyoming Game and Fish Department [WGFD] based on site-specific 

data for the Resource Management Plan Planning Area [RMPPA].) 

Rawlins RMP A15-1 
Appendix 15 Draft EIS 

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Avoidance of surface disturbance or other disruptive activity from March 1 through July 15, up to

2 miles from an “active” lek in suitable Greater sage-grouse nesting habitat (These dates reflect

recommendations from WGFD based on site-specific data for the RMPPA.). 

REDUCING IMPACTS TO WILDLIFE HABITAT

The following BMPs should be applied to reduce impacts to wildlife habitat: 

Seasonal restriction of public vehicular access 

Noise reduction techniques and designs 

Installation of raptor anti-perch devices 

Monitoring of wildlife populations during drilling operations and design and employment of

additional best management practices whenever monitoring identifies undesirable impacts 

Implementation of the Wyoming Bird Conservation Plan from Wyoming Partners in Flight. 

REDUCING IMPACTS TO VISUAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CLASS II 

AND III AREAS

The following BMPs should be applied to reduce impacts to visual resource management Class II and III 

areas: 

Burying of distribution power lines and flow lines in or adjacent to access roads

Repeating of elements of form, line, color, and texture to blend facilities with the surrounding 

landscape 

Painting of all new facilities a color that best allows the facility to blend with the background,

typically a vegetated background 

Final reclamation recontouring of all disturbed areas, including access roads, to the original 

contour or a contour that blends with the surrounding topography

Avoidance of facility placement on steep slopes, ridge tops, and hilltops 

Screening of facilities from view 

Following of contours of the land to reduce unnecessary disturbance 

Recontouring and revegetation of disturbed areas to blend with the surrounding landscape 

Reclamation of unneeded roads to the original contour.

REDUCING IMPACTS FROM FLUID MINERAL CONSTRUCTION, 

OPERATION, AND RECLAMATION

The following BMPs should be applied to reduce impacts from fluid mineral construction, operation, and 

reclamation: 

Directional drilling

Drilling of multiple wells from a single pad 

Transportation planning (to reduce road density and traffic volumes) 

Remote well monitoring

Piping of produced liquids to centralized tank batteries off site to reduce traffic to individual

wells 

Submersible pumps

Belowground wellheads

Bussing of workers (to reduce traffic volume) 

A15-2 Rawlins RMP 
Draft EIS Appendix 15 

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Flareless well completions

Burying of distribution power lines and flow lines in or adjacent to access roads

Design and construction of all new roads to a safe and appropriate standard, “no higher than 

necessary” to accommodate their intended use 

Reuse of old roads or pads 

Interim reclamation of well locations and access roads soon after the well is put into production 

Avoidance of facility placement on steep slopes, ridge tops, and hilltops 

Storage of chemicals within secondary containment in case of a spill 

On-site bioremediation of oil field wastes and spills 

Removal of trash, junk, waste, and other materials not in current use. 

Rawlins RMP A15-3