by Missy Votel

As the oil and gas industry waits for natural gas prices to rebound, area conservation groups want to ensure the next boom won’t be an environmental bust.

 

This week, the San Juan Public Lands Center released a draft environmental impact statement on what is expected to be the next hot spot for oil and gas development in Southwest Colorado. Known as the Gothic Shale Gas Play, the 646,403-acre area located primarily within Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel counties (with a small sliver of La Plata County) could be home to nearly 3,000 new wells over the next 15 years. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands make up 57 percent of the area, with Paradox Basin and the Dolores River Corridor at the epicenter, accounting for nearly 1,800 of the potential wells.

“It’s a really big deal,” said Jimbo Buickerood, of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “There are huge resource values that we are concerned about and we know the citizenry is concerned about.”

The gothic shale EIS is actually a supplement to the 2007 San Juan Public Lands Center Draft Land Management Plan, which is undergoing its first major revision since 1985. The 2007 EIS projected only 1,185 new coalbed methane wells for the entire San Juan Lands planning area, much of them overlapping the general area of the Gothic Shale Play. However, the original EIS did not account for the potential of tapping into the thin shale underlayer, which has recently become possible due to technological advances. As a result, land managers went back to the drawing board to revise numbers, adding a possible 1,769 new shale wells to the area on both federal and nonfederal lands.

Although the EIS states no drilling will take place on steep canyon walls along the Dolores River, conservationists have concerns over impacts a drilling boom could have on the river’s potential Wild and Scenic status./Photo by Steve Eginoire

“It’s basically double what we were looking at when we started,” Forest Supervisor Mark Stiles said Monday during a presentation to La Plata County commissioners.

Thanks to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” making the gas more easily accessible, interest in drilling in the area has surged since the release of the Draft EIS four years ago. Currently, the biggest player is the Bill Barrett Corp., which operates an extensive gothic shale operation on private land east of Dove Creek.

 

In addition to upping the number of estimated wells, the EIS took another look at air quality modeling, which was deemed inadequate in the original document. The supplement includes a more detailed analysis that takes into account the new well projections.

“The supplemental EIS basically takes a look at how the agency is going to manage that development and what issues need to be addressed,” said Buickerood.

Of the four suggested alternatives4 (including the requisite “do nothing,”) preferred Alternative B recommends 776 new wells on federal lands, 250 miles of new roads and a disturbance of 2,592 acres. According to the EIS, half of the area is classified as “working forest and rangelands” and has a history of multiple use, including timber harvest, mining, grazing, recreation, and oil and gas development. However, Buickerood said there is concern some development could encroach on the Dolores River, which has been identified as a candidate for Wild and Scenic River status.

“We aren’t saying ‘no natural gas drilling.’ We’re saying ‘Let’s do it right, and here are some ideas,’” said Buickerood, who is heading up a response to the EIS on behalf of several local conservation groups. “The three main factors we’re concerned with are: how many wells, over what area and over what period of time.”

He said the groups are proposing a “Master Leasing Plan,” a new tool made available under Sec. of Interior Ken Salazar that would take a long-range, overall look at effects of drilling throughout the region.

Of biggest concern is air quality in the Four Corners, which thanks in part to current coalbed methane drilling in the San Juan Basin and carbon dioxide operations in Canyons of the Ancients, is flirting with surpassing ozone limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Although not emitted directly from sources, ozone, more commonly known as smog, is formed through atmospherical “baking” of volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxide. Worry is that with proposed changes in EPA standards, the local airshed could soon run afoul of EPA standards.

“Right now, we don’t know what those emissions are,” said Buickerood. “There are concerns for public health from existing sources and now with 1,700 new wells on public land, we need to look at the cumulative effect of all these compressors, pumps, trucks, etc.”

Another major concern is water. Millions of gallons are required to drill a well and in the fracking process. Although some can be re-used, a plan for proper treatment and disposal of the waste water will be needed. The question of where the water will come from for drilling operations is another consideration. Bill Barrett currently pulls water earmarked for municipal and industrial use from the Dolores River Project.

Rounding out conservationists’ list are worries over impacts to cultural resources; wildlife, especially deer, elk, bear and the threatened sage grouse; and degradation of the wild and scenic qualities of the Dolores River Canyon as well as other natural areas. “Everyone across the board realizes what a valuable resource the Dolores River is, for hunting, fishing or recreation,” Buickerood said.

Fortunately, he said time is on local residents’ sides to craft a well-thought out plan. “A boom probably won’t happen right away; gas prices are still low,” he said, adding that the conservation groups plan to reach out to industry to come up with an agreeable compromise. “For a change, it could be beneficial for all concerned parties to plan ahead.”

The Gothic Shale Gas Play Supplemental Draft EIS can be viewed online at: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestplan/supplement/deis_supplement.htm. Written comments will be accepted Aug. 26 - Oct. 11 and can be submitted via email: comments-planrevision-sanjuan@fs.fed.us; mail, SJPL Supplement Comments, Attn: Shannon Manfredi, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, CO 81301; or fax, Attn: SJPL Supplement Comments and Shannon Manfredi, 375-2331.