Vega reservoir gas project gets OK; public to weigh in

By Le Roy Standish, The Daily Sentinel

Published April 23, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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A 32-well gas exploration project, located about five miles northeast of Vega Reservoir near the Grand Mesa, won approval by the U.S. Forest Service.

In a 29-page report, the Forest Service found that Plains Exploration and Production Co's. plan would have "no significant impact" on the forest.

With the Forest Service's decision, the project now rests for a 45-day comment and appeal period, said Lee Ann Loupe, spokeswoman for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests.

The project was first submitted to the Forest Service in early 1997 by Laramie Energy. Laramie subsequently sold the lease to Plains Exploration in June.

Plains Exploration officials said its plan to directionally drill from just five well pads will minimize the project's overall footprint and assist in achieving the Forest Service's goal of keeping the area accessible for an array of uses, from snowmobiling to hunting.

"It will keep impacts to other forest users to a minimum over the life of the project," said Scott Winters, vice president of corporate communications for Plains Exploration. "We will be incorporating centralized water facilities and buried pipelines, which will help keep truck traffic to a minimum."

According to the decision there were eight alternatives considered for the proposal. The accepted alternative states that Plains Exploration may construct "1.2 miles of new access road, upgrading or maintaining about 6.5 miles of existing National Forest System Road, installing 4.9 miles of buried pipeline (co-locating gas gathering lines and water lines) between drilling locations, constructing a centralized compressor/tank battery facility, installing 0.9 mile of sales pipeline, harvesting timber in two aspen regeneration replacement clearcuts and for other project activities and a minor Forest Plan amendment for visual quality objectives."

The report also indicates that it could have an impact on endangered fish.

The decision has some good and some unsettling contents, said Mark Schofield, director of organizing for the Western Colorado Congress.

"They are doing some things right," he said, regarding the plan to do directional drilling from just five well pads.

"Our major bone of contention (is) the approval of these 32 gas wells by the Forest Service is far exceeding the number of wells it envisioned in 1993," Schofield said.

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