Colorado Forest Regulators Give 'Green' Light to Laramie Energy's Drill Plan
Laramie Energy's plans to drill as many as 32 wells near Hightower Mountain in Mesa County, CO, will have "no significant impact" on the area's natural resources, according to Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) officials.
A decision notice issued by GMUG this week authorizes activities associated with natural gas exploration and potential production to be conducted at drilling locations and associated facilities. Laramie plans to drill at five locations and construct 4.9 miles of buried pipeline between drilling locations and a 1.4-acre compression station.
"My decision for this project is the most environmentally sensitive," said GMUG forest supervisor Charlie Richmond. "It minimizes the number of drilling locations and provides for the potential of multiple wells at each location; it requires burial of the pipeline and produced-water lines to reduce the amount of truck traffic and snowplowing required on forest system roads to enhance public safety and recreation use; and it requires the use of drilling rigs that have low-emissions to support air quality, in addition to other requirements and mitigations.
A 278-page environmental assessment of the project released by GMUG last month found that the plan selected by GMUG would disturb approximately 85.5 acres during drilling location construction and pipeline installation, nearly 30 acres more than under Laramie's initial, above-ground pipeline proposal, but "the long term visual effects will be reduced by buring the pipeline."
I think he's probably mostly happy that it's finally done, after all of the changes and re-writes required. I'm pretty sure he was working on it when I went to work there in 2005.
Haven't found one yet.
