A controversial plan to drill up to 146 natural gas wells in the North Fork Valley near Paonia has received the environmental approval that developers first sought nearly a decade ago. But for now, only one of those wells can be drilled.
The Bull Mountain Unit Master Development Plan, approved Wednesday, provides an environmental framework for what Houston-based SG Interests can do on 19,670 acres of federal and private land about 30 miles northeast of Paonia. Around 2008, the oil and gas company made its initial request to drill 146 natural gas wells and four water-disposal wells and to construct access roads and pipelines.
The Bureau of Land Management had been waiting on environmental assessment as part of the National Environmental Policy Act. The BLM granted SG permission to drill just one of those wells, noting that future approvals are not guaranteed.
In a statement, Dana Wilson, BLM’s acting manager for Colorado’s southwest district, said, “We developed the plan through close coordination with stakeholders and our cooperating agencies. It represents the best combination of management decisions to allow SGI to exercise its lease rights while limiting the impacts to natural resources.”
Paonia-based Citizens for Healthy Community has opposed plans to allow oil and gas operations. The group is concerned about environmental and safety risks for such a large project.
“It’s still inappropriate to be drilling in the watershed area,” said CHC interim director Natasha Léger, adding that the group is weighing appeal options. “We know that accidents happen, spills happen. And the larger the scale in the area, the more risk. It’s not whether drilling can be done responsibly, but is it worth the risk?”
SG Interests vice president Robbie Guinn said he’s pleased that the company can finally move forward. SG has been sitting on leases for years waiting on the environmental report. He felt it was overly delayed by the public controversy. By comparison, a project in Texas took a year from SG’s leasing of sites to drilling, he said.
“I don’t think (opponents) are going to be in favor of any oil and gas development in any circumstance,” Guinn said. “We want to start developing as soon as possible.”
Shannon Borders, a BLM spokeswoman, said the public has had a chance to comment at each step of the lengthy process.
“From the very beginning with scoping, we ask for public input. If you have comments, let us know. We take that into consideration as we write the draft and we put it back out for public comment,” Borders said, adding that experts from all backgrounds were on hand and that all comments were reviewed. “Everyone is involved to make sure the resources are protected.”
The plan includes wildlife provisions to reduce the impact to winter elk habitat and big-game species. It also makes SG set up a “best-management practices for responsible development and measures to protect air and water resources.”
The BLM also studied the socioeconomic impact of the project and concluded that the Bull Mountain development could generate up to $100 million in employment income and 470 jobs annually during the drilling phase. The production phase could generate up to $14 million a year in employment income and up to 135 jobs. The state also receives 49 percent of royalties from such development on federal minerals.
