Methane boom has Colo. landowners worried

A small fire erupted when a spark from an electrical switch ignited built-up methane at a water well on the ranch last summer. Around the same time, an explosion raised the roof on a shed over a water well near the subdivision.

Petroglyph Energy provided homeowners devices to monitor whether their wellheads are venting methane. Petroglyph Chief Operating Officer Ken Smith said the company is monitoring groundwater and has seen nothing to indicate that people are in danger.

Bruce Hopke’s home sports a view of hills covered in pinon pines rolling west for miles, slamming up against the snow-creased Spanish Peaks. Plans for about 50 wells have been approved on the 5,600-acre River Ranch site, but not all drilling permits have been issued.

“I would love to see them fix it, I really would,” Hopke said of Petroglyph’s plan to block seeping methane. “If they fix it, nothing has changed, everything’s fine. You can have a cup of coffee and turn on a light switch — the small pleasures.

“If it doesn’t fix it, then it’s a heckuva problem,” said Hopke, a retiree.

Interest in the area by another gas company prompted Huerfano County to consider a drilling moratorium so it can study its rights and responsibilities, said John Galusha, county administrator.

Dahl and Marcia Dasko, both members of the North Fork Ranch landowners’ association, acknowledged the strong support for the industry because of jobs. They said a hearing in neighboring Trinidad on strengthening state oil and gas regulations drew hundreds of energy workers and officials, many of whom criticized the proposals.

“It doesn’t have to be done with a gold-rush mentality,” Dahl said. “Everybody knows about energy boom and bust cycles and yet everybody here seems to be turning a blind eye to it.”

Dahl and Dasko noted that a recent state study estimated that drilling in the Raton Basin depletes area water by about 2,500 acre feet a year.

That amounts to roughly 815 million gallons of water that aren’t returned to streams and rivers, a volume called “significant” by Matt Sares, deputy director of the Colorado Geological Survey. He said the current total is likely quite a bit lower because of the wells temporarily shut down on River Ridge Ranch. Those wells produce more water than ones farther south.

Some of the water pumped out is reinjected. Some flows into streams or is used for irrigation or livestock if it meets state standards.

Besides concerns about water, Dahl and Dasko said they wonder what happens to the land after wells are drilled, waste pits are dug and roads are carved out of hillsides.

On a recent tour of North Fork Ranch, sections of small fences to prevent sediment from flowing into streams were lying flat in the mud.

A March 11 report on the Web site of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the main regulatory agency, said an inspection found “numerous sediment and erosion problems.” It said Pioneer agreed to make repairs and improvements.

At home, Dasko plopped two big binders on a table. The binders were packed with photos of alleged violations, correspondence with Pioneer and other documents. She said landowners have taken water samples and charted the fate of area wetlands and streams.

“We went into this whole thing very proactive, fairly organized. We hired the best lawyers we possibly could,” Dahl said of the landowners’ agreement with Pioneer for use of the surface. “Most folks are not doing these kinds of things and it’s ridiculous to expect a citizen to have to.”

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