From the Associated Press (Catharine Tsai) via Loveland Reporter-Herald:
…the rules’ challengers are cheering because the ruling Thursday also said those determinations don’t have any legal effects outside of decisions on water well permits…
The San Juan Citizens Alliance and others had challenged the rules [ed. for non-tributary wells], which were adopted after a court decision on water pumped out during coalbed methane drilling. That decision said the water wasn’t just a waste product. Therefore companies for 40,000 existing wells that withdraw water during drilling potentially had to get water well permits or file plans for replacing the water if senior water rights holders were affected.
