October 17, 2007

Contact:        
Vanessa Cameron
303-762-7064

A BALANCED VIEWPOINT

Technology, regulation can help to protect Roan environment

As published in The Denver Business Journal

DENVER, CO – By early next year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management may authorize the commencement of drilling for natural gas in a limited area atop Colorado's Roan Plateau, which is part of a region believed to hold more than 15 trillion cubic feet of the vital resource. That's enough natural gas to heat every home in the United States for almost four years.

It would be beneficial for parties on all sides of this controversy to stop and calmly consider both the safeguards in place and the modern technology that will come together to protect the environment of this special place.

Importantly, while the planning process for public lands projects of this type should last about two years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been publicly planning for natural gas drilling on the Roan Plateau for more than seven years. Even by government standards, that's a pretty lengthy planning process, enough for all sides to be heard loud and clear.

Some 73,000 comments have been filed, most of them part of an email campaign by environmental interests outside of Colorado protesting the plan. Some 1,700 individual comment letters and emails were received from supporters and opponents of the project. If there's been a rush to open the lands to a drilling "boom," as some say, one wonders what a delay would look like.

While it's popular to contend that the Bush administration is behind the initiative to open the Roan to drilling, it was actually the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 that granted authority to the federal government to lease public lands for energy exploration and production for the public good

In 1997, Congress passed a law to turn the jurisdiction of the reserve over to the BLM, and explicitly required that this area be leased for oil and gas development as soon as practicable.

Now that the seven-year planning process is almost complete, here's a balanced look at some important points relevant to the issue:
  • The American people own the public lands and minerals. We, the people, are entitled to benefit from the minerals beneath the public lands, both economically via federal royalties and to provide energy for our country.
  • Gas industry and government estimates indicate that the state of Colorado and the federal government would split evenly the proceeds of about $500 million to $1 billion for leases on the Roan Plateau.
In addition, analysts estimate the state would collect approximately $100 million each year for the next 20 to 30 years in mineral royalties, and state and local energy taxes. The federal government would receive the same amount of money both from lease sales and production royalties.

  • The BLM's land-use plan for the Roan Plateau is widely acknowledged by the oil and gas industry as the most protective plan of its type in American history, limiting land disturbance by allowing gas drilling on only 1 percent -- or 350 acres -- of the plateau at any given time.
There are still approximately 21,000 acres of federal land on top of the plateau that may be subject to additional, more protective restrictions, including the inability to disturb the surface to access the oil and gas minerals directly below. The BLM hasn't made this decision yet, but is contemplating it.

The BLM will require and approve a transportation plan for the Roan Plateau to manage the placement of new dirt roads to drilling sites to protect wildlife and their habitats.

  • The BLM will require that a single operator manage all development on top of the plateau, as compared to the traditional practice of multiple companies operating in a given field due to the competitive nature of the industry.
In the next 20 years, the BLM estimates this operator will build 13 well pads from which about 210 wells will be drilled directionally underground. The BLM believes as much as 90 percent of the gas reserves will be recovered using this operating scenario.

After the gas is extracted, the wells will be capped, and all lands will be reclaimed and restored to their original natural states, according to federal and state regulatory requirements.

  • Strict state and federal environmental regulations govern all aspects of the oil and gas industry in Colorado. Regulators have the authority to shut down an operation and issue heavy fines for the slightest violation.
The operation will provide hundreds of high-paying new jobs, many of which will feature salaries and benefits ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 annually. The gas industry in Colorado already employs nearly 70,000 people, with a $23 billion economic impact to the state.

And finally, clean natural gas produced from the Roan Plateau not only would provide for home heating, power generation and industrial uses in Colorado, it also would be piped east and west for the benefit of tens of millions of people all over the United States.

Vanessa Cameron, senior director of regulatory affairs at E3 Consulting in Englewood, can be reached at 303-762-7064 or at Vanessa.cameron@e3co.com.