Applications for infill drilling for coalbed methane in Ignacio-Blanco gas field and a proposed national monument are raising land use issues in southwestern Colorado.
BP Amoco and numerous other operators proposed to drill more than 600 new wells in La Plata and Archuleta counties during the next 5 or more years. The operators want the state to reduce spacing to 160 acres from 320 acres with regard to development of Cretaceous Second Fruitland coal in the large San Juan basin field.
The companies also seek authority to dually complete wells in the Cretaceous Mesaverde, Dakota, and Pictured Cliffs formations and commingle the gas with the shallower coalbed methane. The Colorado Oil & Gas Commission hopes to reach a decision in July.
Meanwhile, establishment of the proposed Canyons of the Ancients National Monument could affect drilling in the Paradox basin of southwestern Colorado.
The area, known as the Anasazi Area of Critical Environmental Concern since 1985, is estimated to contain more than 20,000 archaeological sites.
The Interior Department, in a recommendation sent to President Clinton, proposed to establish a 256-sq-mile monument about 9 miles west of Mesa Verde National Park in Montezuma and Dolores counties. Interior said new leasing would be permitted only to promote conservation in reserviors already in production and that most of the area has already been leased for oil, gas, and carbon dioxide production.
Infill drilling issues
The commission is considering whether to attach special conditions to the infill application to mitigate health, safety, welfare, and environmental impacts the additional wells may cause.
"Presently approved drilling has caused and continues to cause adverse environmental impacts that continue to go untested and unknown," La Plata County Attorney Jeff Robbins said. "The industry's plan, La Plata County will submit, is woefully inadequate and incomplete."
Bradley McKim, an attorney for BP Amoco, said existing state rules already go far enough and additional mitigation rules should be considered for each individual well, not for all 630 at once.
"We believe the commission's rules do address the health, safety and welfare to a greater extent than any other state," McKim said. "The protections in place are unprecedented in scope."
Dr. Bob McGrath, a pediatrician, told the commission noise from gas wells near residences can cause stress that results in depression, heart attacks, and increased illnesses. He said noise from a gas well is especially stressful because residents cannot control it.
Industry's response
Dave Brown, an environmental specialist with BP Amoco, said no other county has as extensive oil and gas development guidelines as La Plata County. He said the state also regulates every aspect of gas well drilling from before the well is drilled to plugging the well and reclaiming the well site.
McKim said the industry had also offered to enter into a voluntary plan that would further mitigate impacts.
That plan includes testing the one water well closest to an infill gas well for methane contamination, monitoring the Fruitland formation for methane seeps, testing old gas wells that have been plugged, and complying with state and federal noise, water, and air quality laws, Brown said.
Other aspects include using, when possible, alternative well pumps that are smaller and less visible, keeping well sites small, using existing well sites when economically feasible, using existing roads, and helping to maintain county roads, Alex McLean, a petroleum engineer, said. Directional drilling will also be considered when circumstances allow, McLean said.