A major expansion project by Kinder Morgan west of Pleasant View still needs approvals from the Dolores Water Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation.
The Cow Canyon project envisions 14 additional wells and associated pipelines, cluster stations, and power lines to produce more CO2 to meet demand.
But it was revealed at the Nov. 13 Water Conservancy meeting that some of Kinder Morgan’s proposed infrastructure cross Conservancy and Reclamation easements serving that farming community.
“They do not have our approvals for where they want to get to,” said DWCD engineer Ken Curtis. “We’re in initial conversations with the company about it.”
In a letter to the county, DWCD outlines several areas where new Kinder Morgan construction cross easement and infrastructure held by the irrigation district. Impacts include loss of irrigable acres.
Proposed well CX-5 at County Roads CC and 10 requires a gas line and road to a cluster station that will cross a delivery lateral serving 18 individual fields and possible some delivery box lines.
The letter states that Kinder Morgan lines need to go beneath irrigation lines, and legally require DWCD review and approval.
“Without more complete CO2 line information, some potential impacts remain unknown,” the letter states.
A dry-gas loop pipeline is planned from the Yellow Jacket Compressor station near County Roads U, W and 15. This pipeline crosses one delivery lateral serving six farmers and three delivery box lines.
Proposed production well CX-7 off of County Road BB is not on land served by DWCD, but connected CO2 lines are not shown and may cross delivery laterals.
A Kinder Morgan plan to develop 5.8 miles of CO2 and produced-water pipelines between the CD cluster site on Country Road 10, and the Cow Canyon Compressor stations at Roads BB and 8, would cross many DWCD lateral crossings.
The DWCD is also concerned about a proposed private power line along County Road 10 that has sparked a lawsuit between Kinder Morgan and Montezuma County.
The county is requiring all surface-use agreements be signed before the poles go up. But Kinder Morgan sued, arguing that it works in good faith to secure agreements with landowners, but making their success a condition of a permit violates Kinder Morgan’s legal rights to access leased minerals under private land.
“The power lines get very close to our lateral, and would interfere with our tract hoe during maintenance,” Curtis said.
Kinder Morgan has verbally agreed to de-energize the lines when DWCD needs to work on laterals and pipelines.
To access their minerals, Kinder Morgan installs infrastructure across private land. They stay out of the right-of-way of other agencies, including the county roads.
“The fear is that to better avoid rights-of-way, they will move the poles further into the fields,” Curtis said.
Farmer Joe Lanier said he and other farmers would like to see the power line buried to minimize farming impacts.
“We want to stick together and hope the board will back us up on our cause,” he said.
Kinder Morgan’s plan for a new private power plant west of Pleasant View has gotten a lot of attention. And it puts the country’s fourth-largest energy company into the local farming business.
Kinder Morgan recently purchased 580 acres of land between County Roads CC and BB with a long-term plan of building a private, gas-fired, electrical power plant for their operations. No plan has been submitted for the plant.
The land contains 433 allocated acres of farmland, and 849 acre feet of Dolores Project irrigation water.
“Kinder Morgan has asked the BOR if they can farm in 2015,” Curtis informed the board.
DWCD estimates the potential loss of between 500 and 1,000 acres of local irrigated agriculture as a result of Kinder Morgan’s Cow Canyon expansion project. The board is seeking more transparency from the company on its long-term plans, and recommends it conduct an independent impact analysis for release to the local community.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com
