San Juan Citizens Alliances leader Jimbo Buickerood and Trout Unlimiteds Matt Clark held a meeting Nov. 14, to urge local inhabitants to comment on the San Juan Public Lands statement about a plan for drilling through gothic shale for natural gas throughout 1,000 square miles of the southeastern portion of the Paradox Basin (a gothic shale play area).
I think its possible to have natural gas development and to do it right, Buickerood said. I think it can be a helpful economic drive. I think we can protect the water and the air quality and wildlife values and take good care of resources, if theres adequate structure and integrity to the plan the agency puts together.
Buickerood supports a master leasing plan in order to make this happen. Ideally, hed like everyone at the table for discussion, including the energy developers, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, citizens, environmentalists, etc.
A portion of the plan suggests fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, through shale within Dolores and Montezuma counties.
The public has until Nov. 25 to comment on this plan. Comments should be mailed to comments-planrevision-sanjuan@fs.fed.us or SJPL Supplement Comments, Attn: Shannon Manfredi, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, CO, 81301-4216, or faxed to (970) 375-2331.
According to paperwork provided by Buickerood at the public meeting, the most critical components to the statement that citizens should study and comment about are: the impact drilling may have on air and water quality, what portion of these lands should be leased for the mining, how long the development phase should last in order to prevent a boom and bust situation, wildlife protection, public health and safety concerns, and the kind of impact it would have on nearby municipal services and infrastructure.
Theyre forecasting an additional 1,769 wells in the gothic shale over the next 10 or 15 years, Buickerood said. Most of these wells would be in Montezuma and Dolores counties.
Now is a good time to do the planning for this kind of develoment since the gothic shale drilling activity is somewhat dormant, and the price of natural gas is fairly low right now, he added.
Its good to do your planning while theres a lull in the action, he said. He also mentioned that this is a unique situation since a lot of the play area is on undeveloped land. The play area is on land that is privately owned, publicly owned by the BLM and forest service and a tiny portion of the area is on state property.
Less than a third of the public lands are now leased, thats unusual, so theres a possibility of planning ahead, Buickerood said.
He suggested studying Earthworks Actions Oil and Gas Accountability Project website. The industry doesnt have to tell the public what theyre pumping down hole because its no longer covered by the Clean Water Act, he said in reference to fracking, which uses millions of gallons of water and hazardous materials for natural gas drilling.
A resident at Mondays meeting, Jim Law, asked what the impacts of fracking mean for the area.
I havent gotten my head around what the possible impact is to know what to whine and complain about, Law said.
Buickerood recommended reading the first couple of chapters to the revision statement. He and Clark said comments can either be specific or generalized and can be as simple as, I want to protect the Dolores watershed, or please use the latest, more up-to-date science.
Some voiced strong opinions at the meeting.
To me this whole thing is a no-brainer, Sheila Wheeler said. Were already proving that fracking is definitely contaminating water; we poison our water; we poison our air; then everything is poisoned as well, and were not exempt from that.
Jon Callender, a member of the Montezuma County planning commission, reminded attendants that there were no oil and gas industry representatives at the meeting.
Callender said that he hopes everyone understands there are both good and bad aspects to the project.
This can bring a quality environment. There are a lot of mythologies floating around that also need to be clarified. For example, you can read about this in the American Institute of Physics or National Geographic. I recommend you read about it before you conclude the mythology, Callender said.
Clark reminded attendants that anyone who submits a comment is allowed to appeal the next phase of the plan.
And you can take it to court eventually, he said. The appeals process is actually quite common on this kind of plan.
Were not against oil and gas development, we just want to see it dealt with responsibly, Clark said.
Bill Barrett Corp. could not be reached for comment.
Reach Nathalie Winch at nathaliew@cortezjournal.com.