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BLM taking comment on 217 gas wells

Staff Report

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is taking comment on three drilling applications, for a total of 217 new gas wells, in western Garfield County.Comment deadline is Thursday, Feb. 12.The applicants are Williams Production RMT, and KLT Gas Inc.One Williams application calls for drilling 112 wells, in a two- to three-year period, from 29 existing surface locations and five proposed locations on 2,500 acres of BLM land north of Parachute and east of County Road 215, according to a BLM legal notice published Jan. 14 in the Post Independent.The other Williams application is for an additional 55 gas wells in the Wheeler to Webster geographic area north of Interstate 70, between Wheeler Gulch and County Road 215. The wells are proposed for locations with existing natural gas wells or proposed well locations analyzed in the Wheeler to Webster Geographic Area Plan completed in 2002. Issues identified in the current environmental assessment are wildlife and big game habitat, views, paleontological locations, soil erosion and vegetation reclamation.The KLT Gas application is a two-year proposal for a total of 60 wells on 18 well pads eight miles south of Silt and east of Divide Creek Road. On average, five wells will be directionally drilled from each well pad.BLM is drafting environmental assessments for the 112 Williams wells, and the KLT wells, which will be used to write a geographic area plan.The geographic area plan is a development proposal the BLM requires operators to provide for federal lease operations. Information in the plan includes well locations, roads and pipelines. Plans are used to identify cumulative environmental effects and appropriate mitigation, the legal notice says.Copies of maps of the proposed well locations are available for review at the BLMs Glenwood Springs Field Office, located at 50629 Highway 6&24.Comments and questions can be sent to Bill Barter at the Bureau of Land Management Glenwood Springs Field Office, Box 1006, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602; by telephone at 970-947-2838; or by e-mail at Bill_Barter@blm.gov.


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