Wagon Wheel Information Committee

The Wagon Wheel Information Committee was formed in 1971 in response to the establishment of Project Wagon Wheel by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The project would give $12 million to El Paso Natural Gas Company to conduct nuclear explosions twenty miles south of Pinedale, Sublette County, Wyoming to determine if they would lead to the production of natural gas from the Pinedale gas field. The Committee used meetings, petitions, flyers, school surveys, fund raising "blasts," straw votes and letter writing campaigns at the local and national level to prevent the testing. The Atomic Energy Commission dropped Project Wagon Wheel in 1975.

The Wagon Wheel Information Committee was formed in July of 1971 after the Pinedale Roundup published a letter from the El Paso Natural Gas Company to Congressman Teno Roncalio that indicated Congress would give twelve million dollars to El Paso Gas towards the eventual firing of underground nuclear devices twenty miles south of Pinedale, Wyoming, from the 1970s-1980s. As time progressed the committee learned (partly from similar tests in Colorado) that structural damage was certain to occur, that the air and ground water could be contaminated, and that major earthquakes and radiation poisoning could occur. The Wagon Wheel Information Committee hosted public meetings and picnics, generated letters to the editor, conducted petitions and straw votes, sent out flyers, gave presentations, conducted school surveys, and established fund raising "blasts." One of its members, Floyd Bousman, even appeared on the television show, Today. By June of 1975 the Atomic Energy Commission dropped Project Wagon Wheel for a number of practical and political reasons.