A massive helium production and carbon dioxide-sequestration project in western Wyoming cleared two major permitting hurdles this week, one federal and one state. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday approved Blue Spruce Operating’s Dry Piney project, located about 10 miles northwes t of LaBarge on a site that commingles federal mineral and surface estate, as well as state and private land.The project also won a construction permit Tuesday from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council, according to this 67-page order. Colorado-based Blue Spruce, which has an office in Pinedale, was awarded a $6 million Energy Matching Funds grant from the state in 2024. The project is expected to cost about $737 million, according to state documents. The BLM’s approval advances the company’s plans to construct a helium and natural gas processing plant, drill up to nine production wells, access roads and federal rights-of-way and use “acid-gas” injection to “permanently sequester excess carbon in federal pore space deep underground,” according to the agency. At full capacity, the production field and processing plant would produce about 2.3 million cubic feet of liquid helium per day — about 10% or more of the world’s helium supply, according to testimony provided to the ISC. That rivals ExxonMobil’s neighboring Shute Creek gas plant, which is estimated to provide nearly 20% of the world’s helium supply. The facility would also produce natural gas and permanently store “up to” 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, which “would otherwise be emitted” by the operation, according to the company’s testimony. That’s roughly equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted by about 4.9 million small cars, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Permanently sequestering the greenhouse gas qualifies for a federal tax credit, according to the company. ExxonMobil’s gas plant near LaBarge. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile) The operation will contribute an estimated $1.7 billion in taxes over the 40-year life of the project, according to testimony provided to the state. The approximately two-year construction project is expected to begin in May, with an initial workforce of 209 workers, with only about 10 local hires, according to the Industrial Siting Council. It will support about 45 permanent jobs. The council’s role was to determine whether the project would “pose a threat of serious injury to the environment or to the social and economic condition or inhabitants or expected inhabitants in the affected area,” according to the state agency.  Among concerns raised were potential impacts on crucial winter range for mule deer and known big-game migration corridors that are not yet enshrined in Wyoming’s protection of migration corridors. “We wanted to make sure that we raised those issues with the BLM and with the Industrial Siting Council, and make sure that they were considering what kind of mitigation could be done to not disturb wildlife at critical times of year,” Wyoming Outdoor Council Wildlife Program Manager Meghan Riley told WyoFile. The council did impose several stipulations to ensure compliance with existing state wildlife and habitat regulations, according to the agency. Though Riley had barely reviewed the council’s order when she spoke with WyoFile, she said Blue Spruce did give the impression that it was attentive to such concerns. “They were definitely responsive to things that the state raised,” Riley said. The council also plays a unique role in administering “impact assistance payments” to local governments — essentially a mechanism to fast-track sales tax from large construction operations back to counties and municipalities, while adding extra from the state’s portion of revenues. The intention is to help local governments cope with an influx of workers and demands on local resources from large construction projects. The agency determined it would distribute between $14 million and $15 million in impact assistance payments to local governments. The post Feds, Wyoming greenlight new helium plant, among world’s largest appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less