Glenwood Springs – A Texas natural-gas company seeking permission to drill near the site of an underground nuclear explosion surprised local officials, who rejected its request to set up four wells instead of one.
Presco Inc. has already won an endorsement from Garfield County commissioners to drill within a half-mile buffer zone established around the Project Rulison site. Only the surface area would be disturbed inside the zone, and the well bottom would be outside the zone.
But late last month, Presco attorney William Keefe said the company now wants to drill four wells in the buffer zone.
On Wednesday, the commissioners voted to reject the four-well plan.
“I felt we had come to terms (with Presco) to share information, do the analysis for one year,” Commissioner John Martin said. “I thought we had a gentleman’s agreement, and they need to stand on it.”
A nuclear bomb was exploded at the site in 1969 in hopes of freeing up natural gas from oil shale. The gas was considered too radioactive to be sold commercially, though state and federal officials have said nearby drilling would not present a danger.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which issues drilling permits, planned to clarify its prohibition on drilling within the buffer zone during a meeting Monday but has postponed action until Presco amends or submits a new application. The commission was expected to make clear that it was all right to drill a hole inside the buffer if the bottom of the well was outside.
“Given all the back and forth between the county and Presco, the staff decided to not move forward on it,” said Tricia Beaver, the agency’s hearings officer.
The commission will wait for a revised application from Presco and then most likely will hold a hearing in Garfield County, Beaver said.
Geoffrey Thyne, research associate professor of geology and geologic engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, evaluated Energy Department data collected in 1970.
Thyne, who is acting as a technical expert for the county, said Presco should not drill more than one well until the Energy Department issues a new report in 2007 on whether there is harmful residual radioactivity at the site.
