Alva Review-Courier -

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Breaking Wyoming's sage grouse rules cost an oil and gas firm $20,000 and a stern lecture from Gov. Matt Mead in a Tuesday hearing before the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Ballard Petroleum Holdings LLC was facing a tight deadline in late February to drill a well in the Powder River Basin. The well would lie within a two-mile buffer of a sage grouse mating ground. As a condition of its permit to drill near the bird, Ballard could not operate between March 15 and June 30.

But it did anyway.

The company faced a number of complications, explained Mike Perius, di...