Garfield County, Chevron expected to finalize agreement in late July

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — An agreement Garfield County reached with Chevron that will lead the company to pay the vast majority of the cost to rebuild County Road 204 is expected to be finalized later this month.

Although the commissioners have already approved an agreement with Chevron for the company to contribute $25 million to help reconstruct Garfield County Road 204, the agreement has not been signed yet. The official signing is expected to happen on July 21, said Garfield County Commissioner John Martin.

The county will contribute $3 million toward the rebuilding of the road, with half of that total coming from a Colorado Department of Local Affairs grant. Rebuilding of the road will occur from the Mesa County line to the intersection of County Road 211 north of DeBeque. That road serves the natural gas development Chevron has in the area.

The agreement with Chevron, which commissioners approved in May, asks that Garfield County support the company’s effort to receive severance tax credits for its contribution to the project. Those credits would reduce the company’s severance tax bill.

Martin said the company can try to receive the credits, but the project is going forward and a retroactive severance tax credit payment back to the company may not be possible.

“They still want to try (to receive the credits),” Martin said.

State legislators, county leaders and others are considering using severance tax credits to help create a long-term fix of the Parachute interchange, along with building a new interchange west of the current one. In total, the projects are estimated to cost about $50 million.

Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117
pyates@postindependent.com


Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO