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Wyoming State Lands: Glamping Septic Facility Litigation

Date: 2023
Status: Current

Facility septic system threatens human health and Fish Creek. 

While many have raised various objections to the “glamping” geodesic domes on WY State Trust Land on Teton Village Road, POWJH has been leading the legal charge against the facility septic system that threatens human health and Fish Creek.

The Fish Creek watershed is a critical aquatic ecosystem that contains Class 1 waters, which have the highest level of protection under Wyoming law. But Fish Creek is already suffering a death of a thousand cuts by contamination from septic tanks. Fish Creek is already listed as impaired for E. coli, a potentially dangerous human pathogen, and will likely be listed as impaired for nutrient pollutants that disrupt the balance of natural systems.

Litigation

POWJH’s first legal challenge of the septic facility permit in 2022 forced the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to revoke the initial fast-tracked approval for a 156-foot raised mound septic system for the glamping facility and to require a full permitting process. In June 2023, POWJH submitted extensive comments suggesting improvements to the proposed septic permit. At least 70 concerned residents gathered in Wilson at a public meeting with DEQ, where public comments were unanimously in opposition to the permit. When DEQ failed to make key changes to the draft permit, POWJH took renewed legal action.

POWJH continues pursuing legal options simultaneously at the agency level and in Wyoming state court to require DEQ to fulfill its legal duty to adequately consider the septic system’s environmental impacts and prevent further harm to water quality in the Fish Creek watershed.

Related Projects

Education & Outreach

2021 EPA Environmental Education Grant

Date: 2022 - 2024
Status: Completed

POWJH received a nearly $100,000 EPA Environmental Education 2-year grant in 2022 and a $26,000 matching grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. During 2023, POWJH staff used these funds to teach lessons to students about our community’s unique watershed ecology and water quality issues.

Community Solutions

Water Quality Monitoring

Fish Creek and parts of Flat Creek have been listed on Wyoming’s Impaired Waters list since 2020 for elevated E. coli bacteria. Despite this, regular monitoring of bacteria levels in these waterbodies has not occurred. POWJH launched a collaborative water quality monitoring program in Spring 2023 to provide data critical to safe recreation and informed management of each creek.

The time to act is now.
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