Gas bonanza shakes dust from Western towns

Montgomery is also happy that young families have a reason to stay. A recent report found that Wyoming was third from last among the 50 states in its ability to keep residents aged 15 to 44 from leaving.

"People used to have to work like the devil during the warm months to be able to survive over the winter," Mrs. Montgomery adds. "But now all kinds of businesses are able to stay open."

Last year, $115 million was collected by Sublette County in taxes. Seventy-five percent of it went to schools but other town improvements include a new courthouse, a senior citizens' center, a library in Big Piney, an an indoor hockey rink, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

According to Montgomery, the best way to quantify the richness of the gas is by real estate. Ten years ago, Sublette County had a total property asset evaluation of $262 million, but she predicts the total in 2005 will be over $2.5 billion, led by 10 energy companies that account for roughly 95 percent of the value in the form of gas reserves and equipment.

"I would say that most people in Sublette County don't have any idea how much money is being made," says Mark Eatinger, who designs commercial and residential developments.

Still, if you talk to any local residents in Pinedale, Big Piney, or Daniel, even boosters admit their communities reeling from the prospect of unstoppable change overtaking these Cowboy State versions of Mayberry. The same concerns are being expressed in the Powder River Valley of Wyoming and in neighboring states like Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico, where parallel booms are under way.

The juggernaut in Sublette County, however, bears little resemblance to the stereotypical wildcatter frenzies of west Texas that made millionaires out of cowboy investors who flaunted ten-gallon hats and drove around in new Cadillacs and Mercedes.

Most of the gas here is coming from federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and leased to large multi-national companies, such as EnCana, ExxonMobile, BP America and Shell, with faraway corporate offices.

Not long ago, Mr. Wise, who traveled the world in his younger days and also worked as a brokerage specialist in Denver, returned to his hometown, desiring to give his family a taste of a simpler life.

He admits that for tourists passing through town, it might be hard to recognize any overt signs of a boomtown. But if you head south of Pinedale at night, you see the landscape, once dark, is lit up with a constellation of wellhead lights.

Instead of being clear, sunsets glow red from haze. Even a local astronomer has complained of air pollution obscuring nighttime observation of the stars.

The green light for gas development was actually granted by the Clinton administration. In 1999, an environmental impact statement completed by the BLM concluded that drilling would have negligible socioeconomic impacts. But with a dramatic upturn in gas prices, and an energy-focused Bush administration, the rush by companies to rapidly maximize production has overwhelmed local residents.

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