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The Jonah Natural Gas Field is located in the Upper Green River Basin of west central Wyoming south of Pinedale. Jonah’s 30,000 acres of rolling sagebrush are 94 percent federally owned. The area has one of the richest concentrations of natural gas in the United States, currently estimated at more than 14 trillion cubic feet.
The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office (JIO) was created by the Jonah Project Record of Decision (ROD) to provide overall management of on-site monitoring and off-site mitigation activities. To perform these functions, the JIO manages a $24.5 million monitoring and mitigation fund committed by EnCana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc. and BP America Production Company.
Although the Jonah Infill Drilling Project (JIDP) results in significant impacts within the project area, the ROD represents an innovative approach to encouraging industry to minimize the footprint of development, maximize recovery of natural gas and speed up the reclamation process. The JIO provides a crucial mechanism to further mitigate project impacts by funding and implementing both on- and off-site monitoring and mitigation projects.
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