The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have jointly approved Kinder Morgan’s proposal to conduct a seismic study on 121 square miles of public lands east of Dove Creek.
The study will take place the next two summers in the Doe Canyon area, first on BLM lands this year, starting after July 1, and Forest Service lands in 2014.
Through explosive charges and sound waves, the project will help Kinder Morgan map subsurface rock formations and layers to analyze potential for future carbon dioxide development, according to a statement from Forest Service spokeswoman Ann Bond. It does not include exploratory drilling or wells at this time; any future proposals would require separate analysis and approval.
Survey tactics are designed to be minimally invasive. With portable rigs lowered by helicopter, crews will drill four-inch diameter holes approximately 45-feet deep. Each hole is packed with small charges, sealed, backfilled, covered at the surface and detonated one at a time. Ensuing underground vibrations are recorded on receivers.
The project includes BLM lands that overlap with proposed critical habitat for the Gunnison sage grouse, but Tres Rios Field Office Manager Connie Clementson wrote in the decision record that no adverse habitat modification was expected. BLM staff will inform Kinder Morgan crews about identifying and reporting grouse sightings.
The Doe Canyon Deep unit is already a hotbed for Kinder Morgan. According to the company website it owns approximately 87 percent of the unit, an area containing more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of carbon dioxide. In 2008 the energy giant drilled six wells with the capacity to produce more than 100 million cubic feet per day.
For more information, visit the Dolores Public Lands Office or www.fs.usda.gov/goto/sanjuan/projects, or contact Robert Garrigues at 882-7296.