The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Environmental analysis required of federal agencies
The development of five gas wells proposed near Little Henderson Creek in the North Fork Valley—and within Gunnison County—has been put on hold. The project was originally approved by the Forest Service in September of 2013, but the agency withdrew that approval in response to the opening brief of a lawsuit filed by conservation groups.
On January 16, the Forest Service reached a settlement with Western Environmental Law Center, which filed the suit on behalf of groups such as High Country Conservation Advocates (HCCA). Now, the agency must conduct a joint environmental analysis with the Bureau of Land Management, including public input, before approval can be given.
Alli Melton, public lands director for HCCA, said the decision is a step in the right direction toward a more informed and transparent decision-making process for oil and gas development in the region. She explained the lack of environmental analysis “has been an ongoing pattern we have seen in the North Fork Valley, which we identified as a problem if we want transparent decision making [and] well thought out decisions, and to understand what the environmental impacts will be.”
According to Melton, a similar concern came up regarding 146 natural gas wells proposed on Bull Mountain north of Paonia, which—together with associated infrastructure—were initially slated to go through an Environmental Analysis instead of a more comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). During the first round of analysis, HCCA, other advocacy groups, and the public raised concerns that a proposal of that scale was undergoing a less thorough review. The BLM ultimately completed the more thorough EIS, which was released for public input the same day the Little Henderson Creek settlement was reached and is undergoing public review.
When considered in conjunction with the recent settlement, Melton believes the Bull Mountain EIS process gives hope for a less piecemeal approach to oil and gas development. The EIS for Bull Mountain in particular is a “programmatic document,” which means that it will set up the basic framework for analyzing the impacts of oil and gas development on Bull Mountain.
“We now have two instances where we have the agencies saying that we need to [review oil and gas development] in a more comprehensive way, and it allows us the opportunity to have a better idea of what oil and gas development looks like in the area,” Melton said. “Not all development in that area will be covered by these documents, so we still need to see more steps like this if we want a good process for understanding what the impacts are. But it should set the tone.”
Levi Broyles, district ranger for the Forest Services’ Paonia Ranger District, says the BLM will be the lead agency for the Environmental Analysis, and the Forest Service will follow its process. “From where we’re sitting, we’re not aware of any specific issues that have not been addressed, so we hope to find out through the scoping process if there are additional issues we’re not aware of,” Broyles said.
Barb Sharrow, field officer for the BLM’s Uncompahgre Field Office, said the timeline has not yet been determined for the five wells but indicated the process will begin with scoping. Timing can be tracked on the Uncompahgre Field Office NEPA Register at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/nepa/ufo.html.
