The San Juan National Forest is accepting comments on a draft environmental assessment of a controversial gas drilling and pipeline project in the HD Mountains southeast of Bayfield.
Catamount Energy Partners is behind the development, which would expand upon the company’s infrastructure in the area.
The forest’s preferred action would involve the drilling of seven horizontal wells from an existing well pad, which would disturb 1.6 acres on top of a previously disturbed 1.9 acres. It would also involve the construction of 8.4 miles of pipeline, most of which would follow forest roads. Only a half mile of pipeline would traverse undisturbed areas, and the entire project would result in the long-term disturbance of 3.55 acres.
The well pad in question falls just over the county line into Archuleta County, and the pipeline would stretch back into La Plata County.
Drilling horizontal wells would allow Catamount to deplete 6.25 square miles of a coal-bed methane reservoir, a type of natural gas, sitting under the HD Mountains. The area falls at the northern reach of the San Juan Basin, a region long subject to fossil fuel extraction. Catamount has approximately 40 active wells in Archuleta and La Plata counties.
The company has rights to the minerals through the Bureau of Land Management. However, the development must be permitted through the Forest Service, which manages surface impacts.
Construction of gas extraction infrastructure has sparked backlash from area residents, who have raised concerns over the impact to deer and elk herds, historic cultural resources and other environmental impacts.
The environmental assessment paints the proposed action as a vast improvement upon the impacts foreseen when the forest plan was finalized in 2013. At the time, this project was considered a “reasonably foreseeable development scenario” and analyzed in the final Environmental Impact Statement. That plan predicted a need for 50 well pads, rather than one, and the disturbance of 115 acres, rather than 3.55 acres.
The project would involve construction through the Spring Creek Archaeological District. The site contains artifacts and evidence of dwelling from Indigenous people that could date as far back as 300 B.C. The SJNF solicited input from 25 tribes and pueblos, which led to a memorandum of agreement between the Forest Service and the Colorado State Historic Preservation Officer.
As a result, archaeologists and tribal representatives will monitor excavation through historic properties, among other stipulations.
As public lands program manager at the San Juan Citizens Alliance, John Rader acts as an expert watchdog to ensure that proposals, such as the Spring Creek Pipeline project, comply with federal law.
He said the Forest Service has done some things well, noting collaboration with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the focus on avoiding cultural resources and efforts to minimize new surface disturbance.
“The main risks that we see are steep, loose soils in landslide-prone areas, impacts to elk winter range and risk to water resources,” he said.
The impacts to elk winter range were contemplated in the Northern San Juan Basin Coal Bed Methane Project EIS, Rader said, and the document lays out some mitigation efforts.
David Honea, a longtime Bayfield resident who has been involved in previous efforts to mitigate the impacts of oil and gas extraction, said he has not yet had a chance to read the new assessment. However, he said the Dec. 15 release – which corresponds to a 30-day comment period ending Jan. 16 – is unfortunate, given that most people will not have time to examine the document over the holidays.
The draft environmental assessment can be found on the webpage for the project, at fs.usda.gov/project/?project=63036, or at the Columbine Ranger District office. Comments, which will be public record, can be submitted online or in writing to Columbine District Ranger, P.O. Box 439, 367 Pearl Street Bayfield, CO 81122 through Jan. 16.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
