News
Sports
The EnCana gas drilling company is seeking state permits for a new well pad location just outside the Battlement Mesa community boundary, a state official confirmed on Friday.
The permit application was submitted to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on Jan. 21, according to Ron Galterio of Battlement Concerned Citizens (BCC). If granted, the permit would allow for the drilling of nine gas wells just southwest of the intersection of Gardner Lane and Four Corners Road.
Galterio said the citizens' group learned of the application by EnCana on Monday, and the group is still deciding how to respond.
Battlement Mesa is an unincorporated community south of the town of Parachute in western Garfield County, where another gas company, Antero Resources, is planning to drill natural gas wells within the community's boundaries.
The community was approved by Garfield County in the late 1970s as a planned unit development (PUD), and currently is home for roughly 5,000 people, mainly retirees.
It is at the center of a heated controversy between residents who do not want gas rigs in their neighborhoods and Antero, which has leased the mineral rights from Exxon and has plans to sink up to 200 wells inside the PUD boundary.
Galterio noted that the EnCana drilling location is within a half mile of the PUD boundary, and expressed concerns about the cumulative impact of the proposed drilling activity.
“Considering the proposed Antero project ... and the pending applications of four additional well pads, with 58 planned wells within very close proximity to the PUD, and the hundreds of existing or approved wells within a half mile surrounding the PUD, we feel that approval of any further gas well development that could impact the community should be deferred until the [Health Impact Assessment] is completed,” Galterio wrote in an e-mail to other BCC members and copied to the Post Independent.
The Health Impact Assessment, being conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health for Garfield County, is meant to establish a baseline of health data for residents of Battlement Mesa. It is not due to be completed until later this year.
No hearing is required for EnCana's permit application, according to COGCC director Dave Neslin, who said the matter currently is being reviewed by his staff.
There is a 20-day comment period, ending Feb. 10, for the public to weigh in on the application.
jcolson@postindependent.com
The permit application was submitted to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on Jan. 21, according to Ron Galterio of Battlement Concerned Citizens (BCC). If granted, the permit would allow for the drilling of nine gas wells just southwest of the intersection of Gardner Lane and Four Corners Road.
Galterio said the citizens' group learned of the application by EnCana on Monday, and the group is still deciding how to respond.
Battlement Mesa is an unincorporated community south of the town of Parachute in western Garfield County, where another gas company, Antero Resources, is planning to drill natural gas wells within the community's boundaries.
The community was approved by Garfield County in the late 1970s as a planned unit development (PUD), and currently is home for roughly 5,000 people, mainly retirees.
It is at the center of a heated controversy between residents who do not want gas rigs in their neighborhoods and Antero, which has leased the mineral rights from Exxon and has plans to sink up to 200 wells inside the PUD boundary.
Galterio noted that the EnCana drilling location is within a half mile of the PUD boundary, and expressed concerns about the cumulative impact of the proposed drilling activity.
“Considering the proposed Antero project ... and the pending applications of four additional well pads, with 58 planned wells within very close proximity to the PUD, and the hundreds of existing or approved wells within a half mile surrounding the PUD, we feel that approval of any further gas well development that could impact the community should be deferred until the [Health Impact Assessment] is completed,” Galterio wrote in an e-mail to other BCC members and copied to the Post Independent.
The Health Impact Assessment, being conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health for Garfield County, is meant to establish a baseline of health data for residents of Battlement Mesa. It is not due to be completed until later this year.
No hearing is required for EnCana's permit application, according to COGCC director Dave Neslin, who said the matter currently is being reviewed by his staff.
There is a 20-day comment period, ending Feb. 10, for the public to weigh in on the application.
jcolson@postindependent.com
