Battlement Mesa residents are learning to live with oil and gas development in their neighborhoods. But a recent proposal that would allow for injection wells has both government agencies and citizens groups concerned about water safety.
Battlement Mesa, on the western side of Garfield County, is a residential community that also plays host to the natural gas industry.
Dave Devanney is co-chair of the Battlement Concerned Citizens, a group that has been fighting to keep oil and gas development out of their neighborhood since 2009. He has a nickname for his home: “We are Battleground Mesa in Gas-field County, Colorado.”
They suffered a major defeat last summer when the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved two well pads — a total of over 50 wells — that will sit about 1,000 feet from homes. This means truck traffic, noise and odors.
Don Simpson, vice president of Ursa, said one way to minimize some of these inconveniences is an injection well.
“An injection well significantly decreases truck traffic, which is one of the biggest issues and concerns of the community,” he said. “It helps your air quality and a number of different things.”
An injection well pumps wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process into the ground; otherwise, that fluid has to be trucked out of the community, treated and disposed of elsewhere.
A contractor for Ursa is asking Garfield County to change the zoning to allow injection wells in the Battlement Mesa development. Simpson said Ursa has done the research and found the best spot for such a well.
But Devanney and the Battlement Concerned Citizens disagree. The site that Ursa has chosen is about 500 feet upstream from Battlement Mesa’s water intake, which provides the roughly 5,000 residents with their drinking water.
“You know, it’s waste water,” Devanney said. “It’s nasty stuff.”
Devanney and others in Battlement Mesa are concerned that chemicals from the fracking process could contaminate the community’s water supply through spills, leaks or other accidents. Ursa has had 28 reportable spills on other wells in Garfield County since April of 2013.
Dennis Burke lives on a bluff about 500 feet away from where the injection well would go. He has a front-row seat on the recent development of Ursa’s so-called B Pad. Last month, construction crews hit an unexpected water source while building a pipeline connecting the approved well pads. Burke watched — and listened — as crews worked to contain hundreds of thousands of gallons of water gushing from the ground every day. It meant nearly constant truck traffic on a gravel road near his bedroom window.
An injection well would significantly reduce traffic past Burke’s house, but that doesn’t have him convinced.
“If something were to fracture to the point of polluting the Colorado River, it not only affects Battlement Mesa, but how many millions of people down river?” Burke said. “So I’m still against the injection well. I’ll put up with the traffic.”
Simpson said fears like this are unfounded.
“We have put together a good plan with a lot of protections,” he said. “This is a safe and good project.”
But the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment isn’t so sure. Last summer, while Ursa was still applying for a drilling permit, the state agency recommended denying the entire application because of the site of the proposed injection well. Ursa ultimately pulled it out of the plans that were approved.
Last month, the Department of Public Health again strongly suggested that such an injection well would create an unnecessary risk to the water supply. Officials wrote a letter urging Garfield County to deny the zoning request.
Garfield County’s planning staff agrees with the state. The county’s planning commission will consider the proposal Wednesday at 6 p.m. The board will then make a recommendation to the Garfield County Commissioners, who will ultimately make the zoning decision.
For Dave Devanney and other residents, this is just one more battle. On Monday, Garfield County Commissioners agreed to work with Ursa Resources on permits to build three more well pads, totaling 74 wells, in Battlement Mesa. Two of those well pads would tightly border the golf course, which Devanney said is the centerpiece of the community.
Devanney has an expression for news like this: “That’s life in the gas patch!”
He said that as development of natural gas resources in his neighborhood grows, residents must be the watchdogs. It’s a complaint-based process.
“If nobody complains formally, then the assumption is that everything’s fine and everybody’s happy,” Devanney said.
Devanney retired to this community about 12 years ago from the Front Range. He said he didn’t know until the closing on his home that he wouldn’t own the mineral rights under his land. He did know there was a beautiful golf course, a mild climate and access to fishing. Instead, he’ll attend government hearings, give his neighbors updates, organize meetings and keep battling.
