Coalbed Methane: ‘The reason I go to meetings like this is so someone might listen to me’ — Brett Corsentino

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

For most of two days, Brett Corsentino sat quietly listening to theoretical discussions about the relationship of oil and gas drilling to water. For him, however, there is a much more direct and personal link. Toward the end of the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum, he spoke up about how he believes gas drilling has brought tainted water from under the ground and to the surface, where it ruined his land. He also feels he has hit a brick wall trying to get the state to make things right. “The reason I go to meetings like this is so someone might listen to me,” Corsentino said.

Instead, he got into a public argument with Peter Gintautas, an environmental protection specialist from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. “We have a difference of opinion over whether remediation on my land has failed,” Corsentino said. “Not a single representative from COGCC has come out to verify that remediation has taken place.”

“The agency has taken its final action, and offered other courses of action if you disagreed with staff,” Gintautas replied.

For Corsentino, it was another in a long string of disappointments. A fourth-generation dairy farmer, he milks about 400 head of cattle and employs 14 at his dairy east of Walsenburg. Over nearly a decade, beginning in 1998, Petroglyph Energy pumped about 100,000 acre-feet of highly saline water into the Cucharas River while exploring for gas. The company agreed to some remediation by supplying gypsum to reduce salinity, but Corsentino still is dealing with the damage. “They say it will take time and a lot of water to reverse the damage. I don’t have either,” Corsentino said, while giving a windshield tour of the 300 acres of fields that lie fallow.

A reservoir above the fields is dry, partly because of a three-year drought, but also — Corsentino believes — because the gas drillers took so much water out of the aquifer. He also blames poor water quality for low resistance to tuberculosis, which infected his entire herd a few years ago. He is now building a new herd. “This problem continues and I just want to know what a person is supposed to do,” Corsentino said.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Two tables side-by-side outside the meeting room at the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum this week told the story. One table featured an array of handouts touting the benefits of produced water, monitoring programs by Norwest on behalf of Pioneer Natural Resources and pleas for science-based watershed protection. The other counteracted the display next door with informational handouts from groups that highlighted the dangers of fracking, warned about health concerns from produced water and expressed alarm at how much water could be used.

Inside the meeting room, proponents and opponents of gas drilling shared the stage. “There are issues of water quality and quantity,” said Alan Curtis, a partner in the White-Jankowski law firm, who highlighted the dangers of oil and gas drilling. Locally, those include wells that had exploded, caught fire or have caused pollution. The current practices of oil companies involve using large amounts of dangerous chemicals that companies try to downplay by talking about percentages, he said. White-Jankowski, in the 2009 Vance v. Wolfe case, obtained a Supreme Court ruling requiring the state engineer to administer oil and gas wells in the same way that water wells are regulated.

From other presentations, it became clear that state regulation is fragmented when it comes to water and gas drilling. In one session, staff members of the Division of Water Resources and Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission were unable to answer some questions from local concerned citizens, because they involved the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission instead.

Industry spokeswoman Sarah Landry sought to dispel “myths” about fracking, saying hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells goes back to 1947. She said the chemicals used in the process are the same type as found in most households. While some opponents say there are hundreds of potentially harmful chemicals in use, less than a dozen might be employed at any given drilling operation, she explained.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

‘They ruined my way of life, and the state agencies turned a mute ear to my complaints’ — Brett Corsentino

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The damage to farm ground caused by water released from gas wells has been lasting while state protection has proven elusive for Huerfano County dairy farmer Brett Corsentino. “I can’t raise feed and I can’t hold anyone accountable. The bottom line is that the state agencies failed to protect me,” Corsentino said. “It’s all about the money these gas companies have. There’s no way to pierce the corporate veil.”

Corsentino farms is in the Cucharas River basin, which is north of the Apishapa and Purgatoire river basins where oil and gas exploration is most active in Southern Colorado. Pioneer Energy and XTO Energy are active in the lower watersheds. They are engaged in studies to show the water quality is sufficient in some cases for release into streams. Some landowners in the Apishapa and Purgatoire watersheds have asked the Colorado Department of Health and Environment to allow CBM releases.

But Corsentino said he was blind-sided by releases from Petroglyph Energy that began in the Cucharas basin in the late 1990s. He claims the water was high in salts and barium, which broke down the soil on his farm. “I used that water and put it on my fields, but didn’t know about (the releases) until 2006,” he said.

The productivity of his soil fell to one-third of its former level, and one-time soil amendments were paid for by Petroglyph. But the state never followed up with testing, and the Oil and Gas Commission said he had proven damage. “It was a joke. Sucks to be me,” Corsentino said.

His warning to other landowners is clear. “There have been four generations of my family here since my greatgrandfather came over from Sicily in 1905. It’s a hard life. We’ve taken care of the ground and it’s taken care of us,” Corsentino said. “We’ve gone through a reorganization, and I’ve lost the equity. At this point, I just want to be able to raise feed for my animals.”

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Some Las Animas County farmers and ranchers in the Apishapa River basin are concerned that releases of water from oil and gas drilling could render cropland useless. They want water tested — and even treated — before it is released into the river system, saying the danger of increased salinity outweighs any benefit of more water during a drought. “Our main concern is that what happened in Huerfano County doesn’t happen to our soil,” said Gary Waller, who holds senior water rights for fields he irrigates near Aguilar. “We want to be proactive and make sure we do not get contaminated.”

Ken Valentine, whose family irrigates further up in the basin, said a spring above one of its fields was potentially contaminated by a release from coal-bed methane drilling last year. He is also alarmed that CBM water is routinely sprayed on gravel roads throughout the area. “The water should be treated before it’s released into the watershed, either at the company’s expense or those people who are using it for things like livestock ponds,” Valentine said.

They want to avoid the types of troubles Huerfano County dairy farmer Brett Corsentino experienced when Petroglyph Energy dumped CBM water into the Cucharas River in the late 1990s. Water high in salinity and barium ruined his farm ground. “I was harvesting 18-21 tons of corn silage per acre before, and it dropped to six tons after,” Corsentino said. “They ruined my way of life, and the state agencies turned a mute ear to my complaints.”

While the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission required Petroglyph to stop dumping water in 2006 and to help Corsentino try to restore farmland, it ruled in 2011 that Petroglyph no longer had any liability. All say the state should be insisting the water produced by Pioneer Natural Gas in the Apishapa River basin is either of equal quality to surface water, and reinjected into deep wells if it fails to meet standards.

While some in the area contend the water is suitable for livestock and wildlife, the farmers fear it will contaminate their fields — particularly during a drought when there is less natural surface water to dilute the effects. “If the water is good, it should be utilized,” Waller said. “But if it’s not, it will get into the groundwater and onto our place eventually.”

Meanwhile, oil and gas producers in the Purgatorie River watershed have asked the state to relax standards for discharged water. Here’s a report from Steve Block writing for The Trinidad Times. Here’s an excerpt:

A leader of a regional environmental protection group said she’s deeply concerned about the possible lowering of water quality standards in the Purgatoire River Watershed, and asked the Las Animas County Board of Commissioners to write a letter to the Colorado Water Quality Commission, protesting the potential change.

Paula Ozzello of the Southern Colorado Environmental Council (SCEC) spoke at Tuesday’s board work session about the potential dangers of the reduction in water quality standards.

Ozzello, chairperson of SCEC, said XTO Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources have proposed to the commission a reduction in water quality standards for the Lower Arkansas River Basin, specifically the Purgatoire River Watershed and the Apishapa Watershed. She said the XTO and Pioneer proposal would reduce the surface water quality standard, by increasing the allowable level of boron in water used for agricultural purposes from its present level of 0.75 milligrams (mg) per million to a new, and higher, standard of 5.0 mg per million.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

CWCB: State of Colorado Receives Partners in Conservation Award

Here’s the release from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (Ted Kowalski):

The State of Colorado, as well as the other cooperating partners in the Colorado River Supply and Demand Basin Study (“Colorado River Basin Study” or “Basin Study”), were presented today with the prestigious “Partners in Conservation Award” by the Department of the Interior. This award was presented by Deputy Secretary David Hayes in recognition of the cooperation between these different entities on one of the most pressing natural resources issues in the Unites States–the future of the Colorado River basin.

The Colorado River Basin Study is the most comprehensive effort to date to quantify and address future supply and demand imbalances in the Colorado River Basin. The Basin Study evaluates the reliability of the water dependent resources, and also outlines potential options and strategies to meet or reduce imbalances that are consistent with the existing legal framework governing the use and operation of the Colorado River. To date, the Basin Study has published a number of interim reports and appendices, and the final report of the Basin Study is scheduled to be published by the end of November, 2012.

Jennifer Gimbel, Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and Ted Kowalski, Chief of the Interstate, Federal and Water Information Section of the Colorado Water Conservation Board accepted the award on behalf of the State of Colorado. “The Basin Study reflects the cooperative spirit in which the Colorado River Basin States have worked since the adoption of the 2007 Interim Guidelines,” Gimbel said.“Colorado and the other Basin States, the tribes, the federal government, and the many diverse stakeholders must continue to work together in order to address the difficult water imbalances facing the southwestern United States in the next half century. It is clear that there are no silver bullets, but rather we must explore and develop multiple options and strategies in order to meet our projected future water supply/demand imbalance.”

More Colorado River Basin coverage here.

‘Water Wranglers’ is George Sibley’s new book about the Colorado River District #coriver

Here’s the link to the web page where you can order a copy. Here’s the pitch:

Water Wranglers
The 75-Year History of the Colorado River District:
A Story About the Embattled Colorado River and the Growth of the West

The Colorado River is one of America’s wildest rivers in terms of terrain and natural attributes, but is actually modest in terms of water quantity – the Mississippi surpasses the Colorado’s annual flow in a matter of days. Yet the Colorado provides some or all of the domestic water for some 35 million Southwesterners, most of whom live outside of the river’s natural course in rapidly growing desert cities. It fully or partially irrigates four-million acres of desert land that produces much of America’s winter fruits and vegetables. It also provides hundreds of thousands of people with recreational opportunities. To put a relatively small river like the Colorado to work, however, has resulted in both miracles and messes: highly controlled use and distribution systems with multiplying problems and conflicts to work out, historically and into the future.

Water Wranglers is the story of the Colorado River District’s first seventy-five years, using imagination, political shrewdness, legal facility, and appeals to moral rightness beyond legal correctness to find balance among the various entities competing for the use of the river’s water. It is ultimately the story of a minority seeking equity, justice, and respect under democratic majority rule – and willing to give quite a lot to retain what it needs.

The Colorado River District was created in 1937 with a dual mission: to protect the interests of the state of Colorado in the river’s basin and to defend local water interests in Western Colorado – a region that produces 70 percent of the river’s total water but only contains 10 percent of the state’s population.

To order the book, visit the Wolverine Publishing website at http://wolverinepublishing.com/water-wranglers. It can also be found at the online bookseller Amazon.

More Colorado River District coverage here.

CWC Summer Conference: ‘The money available for infrastructure projects, especially for water, is going to be very challenging’ — Carl Steidtmann

From Steamboat Today (Frank Ameduri):

“The real issue here with water is, ‘What are we going to do about it?’” Carl Steidtmann said. “The problem is our government entities are deeply in debt.”

Steidtmann, a Steamboat Springs resident who is chief economist for Deloitte, was the lunchtime speaker during the 2012 Summer Water and Energy Conference at the Sheraton Steamboat Resort on Wednesday. The three-day conference goes through Friday and is put on by the Colorado Water Congress. There are 240 people registered for the conference, and attendees include local politicians, state legislators and representatives from water conservancy districts, water departments and municipalities across the state.

Steidtmann’s keynote Wednesday was titled “The Regional Impact of the National Economy: Letting Go of the Status Quo for Water and Energy.”[...]

Steidtmann, who consults with Fortune 500 companies, said water is becoming an increasingly important issue for energy companies because of its increasing scarcity. To illustrate this point, he showed a map forecasting water availability in 2025. “The western part of the U.S. becomes one of those areas of critical water shortages,” Steidtmann said.

In an era of a contracting government where more money is being spent to pay off debt, Steidtmann said infrastructure projects are the ones that are easy to delay. “The money available for infrastructure projects, especially for water, is going to be very challenging,” he said.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“Environmentalism is a luxury good,” said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist for Deloitte Services. “Richer countries are more environmentally conscious.” In his view, poorer nations are more focused on the need to survive, and have a greater impact on the environment as populations grow. It takes money to protect the environment, he said. Energy development has been the greatest factor in the divide between rich and poor nations, but in the future, the availability of food and water will also have economic consequences, he said.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“We need to make sure the most water goes to the hottest fires,” said Reeves Brown, executive director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. He was among state officials who discussed water project funding last week at the summer convention of the Colorado Water Congress. There is an estimated $5 billion backlog in about 1,000 community water projects across the state.

Mineral severance or federal lease fund revenues are a major source of funds for Colorado water projects to provide drinking water or treat wastewater. Since 2008, the state has looked toward those cash funds to make up shortfalls in other budget areas, particularly health care, education and prisons.

About $250 million over four years in funds that would have gone to local impact grants through DOLA have been diverted. That money would have leveraged three times as much in other grants or loans, Brown said. The Colorado Water Conservation Board has seen $163 million of construction funds diverted during the same period, while making about $80 million in loans to water projects.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Steamboat Springs: Colorado Water Congress Summer Conference August 15 – 17

Here’s the link to the registration page. Here’s the description of the event (Meg Meyer):

The 2012 Colorado Water Congress Summer Conference will include water and energy interests once again as we combine forces and explore areas of common interest. The theme of the conference is The Balance of Power. We will spin the concept several different ways as we look at the balance of political power, the balance of governance, and the balance of energy and water sources.

Immediately preceding the CWC Summer Conference, the Colorado Coal and Power Generation group will hold an all-day event at the Holiday Inn in Craig on Tuesday, August 14th which will include a golf tournament and evening barbeque.

In addition, the Interim Water Resources Review Committee will meet in Steamboat, Tuesday afternoon, for their first substantive meeting to prepare for the 2013 legislative session.

The CWC Summer Conference will be held August 15th through August17th at the Sheraton in Steamboat Springs.

We will have three workshops on Wednesday morning covering topics of drought and current weather conditions, public trust, and endangered species. We will try something a little different this year with the conference kicking off with a luncheon on Wednesday. General Sessions will follow on Wednesday afternoon. An evening open public forum will held on Wednesday at 7:30 pm (attendance is optional for water and energy professionals).

We will have networking breakfasts on Thursday or Friday – a light continental breakfast will be served, but no formal speaker. The hotel restaurant or other local venues are available for those that prefer a heartier breakfast. General Sessions will be held on Thursday from 9:00 to 12:00. On Thursday afternoon, we will offer a couple of tours or you may want to use this time to catch up on other business. The POND Committee is also planning outdoor activities. We will have a reception on Thursday evening at 5:00. The Friday morning format will be similar to Thursday and the conference will conclude with a box lunch.

Colorado River Basin: What are the reasonable water management options and strategies that will provide water for people, but also maintain a healthy river system?

Here’s a guest commentary written by Eric Kuhn, David Modeer and Fred Krupp running in The Denver Post. The trio are issuing a call to arms of sort, asking for input for the Colorado River Basin Study. Here’s an excerpt:

Management of the Colorado River is a complex balancing act between the diverse interests of United States and Mexico, tribes, the seven basin states, individual water users, stakeholders, and communities. The challenges posed by new growth and climate change may dwarf anything we faced in the past. Instead of staring into the abyss, the water users, agencies, and stakeholder groups that make managing the Colorado River responsibly their business are working together, using the best science available to define the problem, and looking for solutions.

We’re calling our inquiry the Colorado River Basin Study, and we want your help. As Colorado River management professionals, we have a lot of knowledge and ideas, but we know that we don’t have them all. We want ideas from the public, from you, but we need your input by February 1. You can submit your suggestions by completing the online form at: http://on.doi.gov/uvhkUi.

The big question we need to answer is: What are the reasonable water management options and strategies that will provide water for people, but also maintain a healthy river system? We don’t believe there’s a single silver bullet that will resolve all of our challenges. We want to continue to explore the benefits and costs of every possibility, from conservation to desalination to importing water from other regions.

The West was built on innovation and hard work, and that spirit is still strong. Our landscapes and communities are unparalleled in their beauty, resilience, and character. The economic well-being of our rural and urban communities in the Colorado River basin is inextricably linked to Colorado River and its environmental health.

That’s why we are asking for the public’s input to help us craft a study showing a path forward that supplies our communities with the water they need to thrive and protects the health of the Colorado River-and the ecosystems and economies it supports.

More Colorado River basin coverage here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: The state of Colorado and the Southern Ute Tribe are considering their options in light of Judge James Hartmann’s ruling last Thursday

From the Associated Press (Catharine Tsai) via The Albuquerque Journal. From the article:

The judge last week upheld rules by the state engineer that allowed some oil and gas wells in the state to be exempt from getting water well permits for their operations, but he also said the rules shouldn’t apply within the Southern Ute reservation because it is unclear who has jurisdiction over water…

Despite the ruling last week upholding the rules, [Colorado First Assistant Attorney General John Cyran] told The Durango Herald (http://bit.ly/qrNKDV) the state was considering whether to ask the judge for a clarification of part of the ruling that said the state engineer’s rules should not apply within the Southern Ute reservation. “I don’t think there was any problem with us passing that rule because I do think we have authority there,” Cyran said.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

State Engineer’s rules for non-tributary coalbed methane produced water affirmed by water court

Here’s an in-depth look at Thursday’s decision by Water Court Division One Judge James Hartmann, from Joe Hanel writing for The Durango Herald. Their headline asks the question, “Did gas industry win water ruling?” From the article:

Judge James Hartmann of the water court in Greeley ruled in favor of State Engineer Dick Wolfe, who adopted rules in 2010 that allowed his office to avoid detailed regulation of the water use by many of the 40,000 gas and oil wells in Colorado. However, he threw out the portion of the rules that covers the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, where most of the region’s gas drilling occurs…

Until the Vance ruling, the industry and state regulators had treated the water as a waste product that did not need to be regulated under Colorado’s complicated set of water laws.

Fearing a deluge of 40,000 well permit applications, the Legislature gave the state engineer the authority to decide which gas wells are so deep they will not hurt other people’s water rights, and which ones need stricter scrutiny, including plans to replace the water they use.

The Vances, Fitzgeralds and many others sued again, but on Thursday, the judge upheld most of the rules Wolfe adopted. “For the most part, I think it was a good ruling for the state,” said First Assistant Attorney General John Cyran, who defended the state engineer’s office in the lawsuit.

But the plaintiffs also are happy about the ruling because of one paragraph near the end. In that paragraph, the judge declared the rules apply only to the use of water in gas and oil drilling, and they can’t be used in court to win a water right for the industry. “That is the main event, believe it or not,” said Sarah Klahn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs…

However, Hartmann’s ruling leaves much of Southwest Colorado in a legal limbo.

Although the judge upheld the state engineer’s rules statewide, he ruled that they should not apply within the boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation because it is unclear who has jurisdiction over water. Lawyers for the state and the tribe said they are considering appealing that portion of Hartmann’s ruling or at least asking him for clarification. “We were surprised by the decision,” said Adam Reeves, a lawyer for the Southern Ute tribe. “We’re evaluating our next step.”

Here’s the link to Coyote Gulch when the original ruling was announced. Scroll down to the end of the page for the article.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

State Engineer’s rules for non-tributary coalbed methane produced water affirmed by water court

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.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Water Court Division Seven judge dismisses BP America and others applications

From the Associated Press via The Denver Post:

The Durango Herald reports BP America Production Co. and others had sought claims to nontributary groundwater, which isn’t considered connected to surface streams. Water Judge Gregory Lyman said last month that state law gives landowners the right to such water under their property, so companies need landowners’ consent first.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

2011 Colorado legislation: HB 11-1286 (Clarify State Engineer Nontributary Rule Authority) passes state Senate

From The Durango Herald (Joe Hanel):

House Bill 1286 tells the courts to give deference to state water regulators, who adopted maps last year to show when gas and oil wells need to be given greater scrutiny to make sure they don’t injure the water rights of nearby landowners. Farmers and ranchers have sued the state over the rules, saying they are a giveaway to the gas industry. HB 1286 passed 35-0, and the bill is now on its way to Gov. John Hickenlooper.

More 2011 Colorado legislation coverage here.

2011 Colorado legislation: HB 11-1286 (Clarify State Engineer Nontributary Rule Authority) sails through the state House

Click here for Joe Hanel’s analysis of the bill from The Durango Herald.

More coverage from Patrick Malone writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Under HB1286, Water Court would be the last line of appeal for decisions by the state engineer. The bill arose in response to a 2009 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that found oil and gas wells are subject to the tributary water permitting process. Supporters of the bill have said it would streamline the permitting and appeal processes. In a committee hearing, an opponent objected that it represents legislative side-stepping of the high court. Next, the bill will be heard by a Senate committee.

More HB 11-1286 coverage here.

2011 Colorado legislation: HB 11-1286, Clarify [State Engineer] Nontributary Rule [Authority]

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):

The House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-0 to adopt HB1286, sponsored by Reps. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and John Becker, R-Fort Morgan. The bill aims to streamline the decision-making process on water permits. A 2009 Colorado Supreme Court decision found that water used in coal-bed methane natural gas extraction is subject to the requirements of tributary water permitting. The ruling granted Water Courts authority over permitting conflicts and appeals…

Nontributary water can be exempt from permitting, Following the court’s ruling, the state engineer developed rules to govern permitting within the framework of the court’s decision, and developed a map that reflects extraction operations subject to permitting under it. Among them were some wells in the Raton Basin near Trinidad. Under HB1286, the state engineer’s rules would be acknowledged in statute, appeals of permit decisions would be routed through the rule-making process instead of through Water Court and further appeals of those decisions to a Water Court would require a higher standard of proof to overturn earlier rulings in the chain of appeals.

The chief opponent of the bill to testify Monday was lawyer Philip Lopez of the firm White & Jankowski, which represents the plaintiffs who were victorious in the 2009 case. He characterized the bill as an attempt to legislate around judicial decisions, argued the ruling has not led to the shutdown of any gas wells and said the state engineer’s map confers by default a water right to the oil and gas industry that other water users must follow process to attain.

More coverage from Joe Hanel writing for The Durango Herald. From the article:

House Bill 1286 raises the legal standard the ranchers will need to prove to win their lawsuits against State Engineer Dick Wolfe. Last year, Wolfe drew maps that showed which gas and oil wells needed to get water permits and which ones could drill without going to court to fight about who owns the water…

The Vance and Fitzgerald families took Wolfe’s office to court several years ago for not protecting their water rights from gas wells, and they won at the state Supreme Court in 2009. The ruling shocked the gas industry, and legislators worried all 40,000 gas and oil wells in the state would need to get water permits. So they gave Wolfe’s office the power to draw maps that show where gas wells interact with surface water. Gas wells outside the zone do not need to replace the water they use because the water is assumed to be so deep underground that it will have no effect on surface streams.

But the Vance and Fitzgerald families sued again, along with the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Oil and Gas Accountability Project and the city of Sterling. Several lawsuits are active, and the main one is working its way through the water court in Greeley…

Mike King, director of the Department of Natural Resources, urged legislators to pass the bill. Wolfe’s office is in King’s department, and King cited the extensive work the engineer’s office did to draw the maps. “What we’re asking is an affirmation of that to remove all doubt,” King said. “This is critical that we resolve this issue and that it doesn’t get litigated and then appealed to the Supreme Court, and we have a two-year window of uncertainty that would not be good for oil and gas production in Colorado.”

More 2011 Colorado legislation coverage here. More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — oil and gas: Coalbed methane produced water update

From The Trinidad Times (Randy Woock):

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s (COGCC) annual report to the Water Quality Control Commission and Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment stated that the 2,055,900,000 gallons (6,309.3 acre feet) of produced water extracted by CBM wells in Las Animas County comprised 89 percent of the region’s produced water in the first half of 2010. The produced water amounts were reported in terms of barrels, with each of the 48,950,000 barrels extracted in Las Animas County equivalent to 42 gallons. A total of 55 million barrels of produced water were extracted by CBM operations in southeastern Colorado during the first half of last year. “There’s still numbers coming in for 2010,” COGCC Environmental Manager Debbie Baldwin said. “Those final numbers (for a 2010 produced water total) haven’t been published yet.”[...]

The most recent produced water figures are a drastic decline from previous years. The fiscal year (FY) 2009-2008 report showed 462,4746,197.4 gallons of produced water generated from Las Animas County wells, and the FY 2007-2008 reported 6,454,568,642.3 gallons of produced water in the area, though that amount was from a combined Las Animas and Huerfano counties calculation. The FY 2006-2007 report showed 7,127,366,514 gallons of produced water from CBM wells in Las Animas and Huerfano counties…

“Approximately 70 billion cubic feet of gas was produced in this region (southeastern Colorado) during the first six months of 2010, with 84 percent of the gas produced from the 2,906 CBM wells in Las Animas County,” the COGCC report stated. “Approximately 212 drilling permits were issued for oil and gas wells in southeastern Colorado in 2010. Approximately 82 percent of the 212 were issued in four counties (41 percent in Las Animas, 23 percent in Lincoln, 11 percent in Fremont, and 8 percent in Cheyenne).”

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Las Animas County producers implement substitute water supply plans for produced water

From The Trinidad Times (Randy Woock):

Las Animas County’s four largest gas companies — Pioneer Natural Resources, El Paso E&P Company, XTO Energy and Red River Ranch Holdings — have implemented SWSPs in order to continue gas production in the about 3,068 CBM wells operating within the central Raton Basin. Industry activities in the area discharge from CBM wells a combined total of about 10 million gallons of produced water per day. The SWSPs were approved by the State Engineer’s Office through March 31, 2011 and are nearing the end of their first approved year of implementation. The SWSPs call for replacement water to come from, “a lease with the City of Trinidad to supply up to 50 acre-feet of fully consumable water from the city’s storage account in Trinidad Reservoir.”[...]

A summer 2009 decision by the Colorado Supreme Court in the Vance v. Simpson case determined that the groundwater produced during CBM drilling production, previously considered a waste by-product, was of “beneficial use,” and thus had to undergo permitting and comply with Colorado groundwater laws. The state then passed an authorization for the State Engineer’s Office to approve alternates such as SWSPs in place of augmentation plans. That authorization for alternates extends from March 31, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2012 in order to provide energy companies in Colorado with extra time to integrate CBM wells that withdraw waters considered tributary and that impact “over-appropriated” streams into the state water court’s adjudication process.

Colorado Division of Water Resources Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte told The Times Independent that the Division had turned down initial requests by the companies to utilize the non-tributary water component of the CBM produced water as a replacement source. “The concern that we have is the native tributary water supply that water rights along the Purgatoire (River) depend upon are not diminished by the withdrawal of groundwater,” Witte said. “The initial proposal was that, of the water that they withdraw from the coal beds, they determined that a portion is tributary and a portion is non-tributary, and they thought that they would simply rely on the non-tributary water as a replacement for the stream depletions that were calculated.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Two Rivers Water Company inks MOA with Petroglyph Energy to study treating coalbed methane produced water

From TradingMarkets.com:

Two Rivers Water Company, a company focused on acquiring and developing water, farming and alternative energy in southern Colorado, and Petroglyph Energy, Inc., an Idaho corporation, announced today they have entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding to complete a feasibility study for the treatment of produced water originating from coal bed methane production in Huerfano County, Colorado.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: State Engineer’s Office forum recap

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Before last year, the state did not administer water produced by coal-bed methane wells. The water in question is groundwater commonly found along the seams of coal from which methane gas is extracted. In the Arkansas River basin, there are hundreds of wells located in Las Animas and Huerfano counties. There are also large coal-bed methane fields in the San Juan and Picance basins in Western Colorado, as well as at smaller sites around the state…

The state Legislature subsequently passed a law, 09-HB1303, that affirmed the Supreme Court decision that removal of water for coal-bed methane is a beneficial use. The law also directed State Engineer Dick Wolfe to develop rules for oil and gas wells. “So, what does it mean? It means the state could issue permits, and it could mean a big curtailment,” [Kevin Rein, assistant state engineer] said. Nontributary groundwater is not affected by the decision or the law, however. The state does not administer nontributary groundwater — that which is pumped from wells that would not have a 1 percent depletion on surface flows over 100 years. Earlier state laws, 73-SB213 and 85-SB5, give certain rights to landowners or oil and gas drillers to nontributary water. Because gas wells often are thousands of feet deep, as opposed to hundreds of feet for most domestic or irrigation wells, many could be nontributary, Rein explained…

In coal-bed methane production, the removal of water itself is considered a beneficial use, so all require a permit if the groundwater is deemed tributary. In other oil and gas production, the state still regards only water used for purposes such as dust suppression or fracturing geologic formations as beneficial. So far, about 5,000 coal-bed methane wells have obtained permits, and some companies have begun filing for water rights in Water Court or substitute water supply plans from the Division of Water Resources.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy coalbed methane: Aguilar town council hears presentation about coalbed methane well produced water

From The Trinidad Times (Randy Woock):

A presentation at the town council meeting on the water monitoring had been arranged, Pioneer’s Senior Public Relations Advisor, Karen Brown, told the meeting’s attendees, “So you all could hear more about what it is we do to protect the water that is coming off of the discharges CBM production…the intent (of the presentation) is to open the discussion, provide some information about how Pioneer is approaching this, that we want to approach it from a scientific perspective and have documentation to prove that, in fact, water is, in fact, within its permit limits.”

Pioneer has been discharging around the Apishapa River since 2005, though none of its four outfalls are on the Apishapa River’s mainstem. Pioneer is currently discharging at a rate of 1.8 acre-feet of water, or 600,000 gallons, per day. Pioneer has about 2,450 wells in the basin. The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit it has applied for, according to Pioneer’s senior energy environmental advisor, Gerald Jacob, would allow for a maximum surface discharge amount of 999,999 gallons per day.

The discharge permitting process begins with the preparation of a draft permit, of which are considered possible impacts of the proposed discharge levels, measured against the water quality standards as adopted by the Water Quality Control Commission. The standards consider variables like effluent limits based on in-stream water quality, the quality and types of expected effluents coming from the discharge facility and as well as impacts on the stream at extreme low-flow periods…

The three monitoring stations deployed on the Apishapa River — at Lisonbee, Eichler and Nations — were placed and are monitored by the Norwest Corporation, a environmental consulting firm specializing in hydrology. Norwest’s stations monitor in 15-minute intervals water levels and salinity at their deployment points, as well as conducting flow measurements and water quality sampling every two weeks. Processed data and the resultant charts are uploaded to the website, apishapawatershed.org, after several weeks, though each station also contains a direct display that updates every minute. “I really encourage you to use the website, and if you’re concerned and you want to keep track of stuff…we post all the lab data results, we’re comparing it to what we’re finding in the stream…it’s a really useful tool,” Hyrdrologist Angela Welch of Norwest said. “We really are trying to help you guys out by protecting your assets, which is your stream.”

More coalbed methane here and here.

Energy policy — Coalbed methane: State Engineer’s produced water rules lawsuit(s) update

From The Durango Herald (Joe Hanel):

The case, Vance v. Wolfe, earned plaintiffs Bill and Elizabeth Vance a spot in the history of Colorado water law. The fellow plaintiffs, Jim and Theresa Fitzgerald, of Bayfield, celebrated the ruling as a protection of their water rights and the springs they worked for decades to restore to health. But the Legislature’s bill led to a chain of events that has everyone back in court this summer to fight out three new lawsuits…

The Legislature did two things: It gave the engineer’s office until Aug. 1 this year to process the permits, and it allowed State Engineer Dick Wolfe to make rules that exclude gas wells drilled into deep formations from the need to obtain water permits. Wolfe held hearings last year and early this year and eventually decided that many wells in the San Juan Basin don’t need permits. In general, the wells farther north, closest to where the coal formations climb to the surface, still need water permits.

Sarah Klahn, a water lawyer for the Vance and Fitzgerald families, said the rules threaten to undo the significant victory of the Vance case. Klahn and fellow lawyer Alan Curtis filed two new lawsuits against Wolfe for adopting the rules. The first one will be heard in Greeley this year. It claims the state engineer illegally adopted the rules without notifying landowners that their water might be at risk. “The real people who stand to be injured on the ground because of this stuff did not get notice,” Curtis said.

Their first legal notification that something was up was the huge water-rights application to state Water Court by gas companies that landowners got in the mail this year, he said. They are not alone in the fight this time. Other plaintiffs include heavyweights like the Denver Board of Water Commissioners, the cities of Boulder, Centennial and Sterling, and several other water users.

The second lawsuit, filed in Durango, challenges the map that Wolfe used to decide which wells to regulate. Gas companies paid for the expert who drew the map, and it leaves out wells that should face scrutiny from water regulators, Klahn and Curtis say.

A third lawsuit takes the fight to all of Southwest Colorado. In February, the state engineer amended the rules to include other geological formations, including the shales found in Montezuma, Dolores and western La Plata counties. The rules determined that groundwater in the Paradox formation – which covers a wide swath of Southwest Colorado – is nontributary, meaning gas companies will not have to prepare expensive plans to replace the water they use in their wells. The area has not been drilled for gas yet, but the rocks hold a potentially large amount of shale gas, so it could become an important drilling area in the future. Durango water lawyer Amy Huff filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of several local landowners to challenge the rules over the Paradox formation and other geologic layers. Huff said the state engineer has not done enough to prove that gas companies can take water out of the rock formations without harming surface streams…

An Aspen group, Public Counsel of the Rockies, paid the plaintiffs’ legal fees in the Vance-Fitzgerald lawsuit. In March, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation made a $300,000 grant to Public Counsel of the Rockies to continue the coal-bed methane work, according to the Hewlett Foundation. Public Counsel of the Rockies’ tax forms describe the Vance lawsuit as a test case to bring water regulation to gas wells

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Las Animas County coalbed methane natural gas producers’ substitute water supply plans update

From The Trinidad Times (Randy Woock):

The proposed SWSP was outlined in a July 22 letter to the companies from the Division of Water Resources. The letter notes that, as of December 2009, about 2,600 CBM wells in the Raton and Vermejo formations were considered to have an impact on tributary waters in the Raton Basin. A total of about 3,068 CBM wells operate within the Central Raton Basin…

The letter gives the average pumping rate of all active CBM wells in the affected areas in 2008 to have been about 2.95 gallons per minute (gpm). “For production through 2008, 95 percent of the pumping rates were below 12.6 gpm per well,” it states. “Estimated water production from potential new tributary CBM wells was determined…(e)ach new well perforated in the Raton Basin was assigned a pumping rate of approximately 12 gpm (6 gpm for the Upper Raton Formation and 6 gpm for the lower Raton Formation.” Depletion amounts were calculated using MODFLOW, an industry standard numeric groundwater flow modeling code also used by the U.S. Geological Survey. A 2008 study of the impact of area CBM wells on the Purgatoire River, commissioned by Pioneer and XTO, had found…

Monthly depletions in the affected area for the SWSP’s effective period of April 2010 to March 2011 were estimated as 0.105 acre-feet of water. Depletions caused by CBM pumping prior to 2008 combined with the estimated depletions, figured as a maximum estimated production of tributary water through the plan’s validity endpoint of March 31, 2011, are projected at 4.126 acre-feet. The SWSP, as approved by the SEO, calls for replacement water to come from, “a lease with the City of Trinidad to supply up to 50 acre-feet of fully consumable water from the city’s storage account in Trinidad Reservoir.”[...]

Karen Brown, Pioneer’s senior public relations adviser, told the Las Animas County Board of Commissioners at its Aug. 17 meeting that Pioneer was considering at least five different methods to measure water produced from its wells, including those purchased over the past 15 years from, “numerous operators who, at the time the wells were drilled, did not foresee such a change in regulations that would give the (SEO) jurisdiction over the CBM water production.” She added that Pioneer did already take flow measurements at its wells, discharge points and injection wells, and that it should have completed in the next 30-60 days the tests on the five aforementioned methods to determine which it would utilize to meet the SEO’s water measuring requirements. “Our job is really to ensure that the accuracy of these methods meets the (SEO’s) standards,” she said. Brown also said that more than 700 of Pioneer’s CBM wells produced less than 1 gpm of water. “It’s hard to really gauge that kind of flow,” she said. “Obviously, we want to really assess all of the different options because any one of these things will pose significant costs to the company.”

Additionally, Pioneer, XTO Energy and Red River Ranches hired earlier this year the environmental engineering and consulting company, Tetra Tech, to install and monitor on the Purgatoire River and its tributaries a system of water data monitoring stations. The system, in place for the next two year, includes nine continuous monitoring stations and 25 monthly monitoring stations to collect data on such things as flow levels, temperature, pH and chloride levels, sodium absorption levels and the water’s electrical conductivity levels.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Lawsuit over the State Engineer’s coalbed produced water rules has been moved to Water Court Division One

From The Durango Herald (Joe Hanel):

The case involves a challenge by Southwest Colorado ranchers and several other landowners to the water rules for gas and oil wells that the state engineer adopted early this year. Sarah Klahn, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said the rules should be overturned because many affected landowners never received legal notice that the state was about to pass rules that affect their groundwater. “Industry wants to say, here are the rules. We’re done. We win,” Klahn said in a hearing Friday. “It’s only fair that the landowners have the same opportunity to participate in this. We think the only way that’s going to happen is if it’s in Durango.”

If the case had gone to Durango, it would have been heard by Judge Gregory Lyman, who ruled against gas companies in the water rights case that set these events in motion. But lawyers for the state engineer’s office and gas companies argued that the case should be heard in Greeley, which is much closer to Denver – the seat of government and headquarters for many gas companies. “This case should be heard here, where the agency is located,” said First Assistant Attorney General John Cyran. “It is a matter of statewide importance.”[...]

The first lawsuit challenges the legal procedure the state engineer used to pass the rules. It was moved to Greeley on Friday.

The second lawsuit challenges the map the engineer adopted for Southwest Colorado to show where the industry has to take extra steps to replace the water it uses. Lawyers on both sides agreed Friday to put that lawsuit on hold until the first one is decided.

Separately, gas companies have filed 11 different applications for water rights in Durango’s water court. As part of those cases, the industry sent out notices by mail to hundreds of landowners earlier this year. Several landowners – as well as the city of Durango, the U.S. Forest Service and others – filed statements of opposition. Lyman will decide later whether to grant the water rights.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Governor Ritter signs SB 10-165 giving operators more time to score the necessary paperwork

From the Associated Press via the Grand Junction Free Press:

Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 165 extending the deadline. State Engineer Dick Wolfe has said he needs the bill to keep his office from being overwhelmed with paperwork.

SB 165 also gives companies limited permission to use produced water from their gas wells.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here. More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: Pioneer Natural Resources files augmentation plan for coalbed methane produced water

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Pioneer Natural Resources filed its application last month under new state rules brought on by a Supreme Court decision and legislation last year. The company operates nearly 3,000 wells in Las Animas County, mostly above Trinidad Lake in the Purgatoire River Basin.

Jeris Danielson, manager of the Purgatoire Water Conservancy District, said the district is close to reaching a stipulation on how many of those wells are tributary to the watershed. He has not seen the filing for the augmentation plan and could not comment.

In January, Pioneer filed a plan with the state Division of Water Resources claiming that about 1,800 of its wells are tributary. It also says that 1,170 of its wells produce nontributary water. Another 108 wells not yet drilled are also covered in the court filing. The filing describes how replacement water, or augmentation flows, would be discharged at numerous points throughout the watershed, accounting for both flowing and perennial streams. The application asks for storage rights at various points to use produced water from nontributary wells to augment flows. The application specifically avoids claiming salvaged water from tributary flows, based on previous court decisions.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here.

Energy policy — coalbed methane: La Plata County senior rights holders file lawsuit claiming the state engineer’s office is not protecting them with new produced water rules

From The Durango Herald (Joe Hanel):

The state engineer adopted rules this year to exclude many gas wells from added regulation. In Southwest Colorado’s San Juan Basin, only wells close to the basin’s edge will need plans for replacing water they use. In most cases, the state engineer ruled that the gas wells are too deep to affect streams and springs that ranchers use. But opponents, led by the Vances’ and Fitzgeralds’ lawyers, fought the rules. They said the state engineer relied too heavily on a map developed by the gas industry. They sued the state engineer Monday, seeking to overturn both the statewide rule and the map specific to the San Juan Basin. “We wish they’d done it right, but they didn’t,” said Alan Curtis, a lawyer with the firm…

Jim Martin, director of the Department of Natural Resources, was not aware of the lawsuit Tuesday, but he has said the state engineer’s office is trying to be fair to everyone without bringing the gas industry to a halt…

Also Tuesday at the Legislature, a House committee unanimously passed a bill to extend deadlines for gas companies to apply for water permits. Right now, gas companies are under a March 31 deadline to apply for thousands of water permits, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Vance ruling and a bill the Legislature passed last year. [Senate Bill 10-165: Adjust Oil and Gas Regulation] (pdf) extends the deadline to Aug. 1. Anything less would overwhelm the engineer’s office, Martin said…

Curtis and other opponents say a section of the bill could mess up Colorado water law by granting gas companies the right to use the water their wells produce. A water well permit is different from a water right. Well permits allow limited pumping from aquifers under a person’s land. The state engineer grants them. Only judges can grant a water right, which can allow water to be used, bought, sold and perhaps moved around the state. The Denver Water Department and several members of the Colorado Water Congress are worried about the bill’s future effects, said Sara Duncan of Denver Water. She led a Water Congress group that tried to reach an agreement about the bill. The group agreed to extend the deadline to apply for permits, but it split on saying what gas companies can do with the water they produce. Gas and oil companies joined Martin’s Department of Natural Resources to support the bill. It allows companies to use water they produce through their gas wells for things like dust control or mixing cement. This will cut down on fresh water use and truck traffic in the gas patch, Martin said.

The Legislature has never directly tackled the question of who owns produced water or how it can be used. Several members of the House Agriculture Committee said Tuesday that the Legislature will have to make a decision in a future year. “At some point in the future, we’re going to have to recognize the value that is in produced water,” said Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh.

More coalbed methane coverage here and here. More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.