Two southwestern Colorado landowners and a local conservation group filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver to prevent drilling of two coal-bed methane wells in an area where there have been methane seeps.
In the lawsuit, Bill Vance, Julie Vance and the San Juan Citizens Alliance say the U.S. Forest Service violated federal law by approving the two wells without an environmental impact analysis.
The two Petrox Resources Inc. wells, recently authorized by Forest Service and Colorado regulators, are less than a mile from the Fruitland formation outcrop east of Bayfield. Previous wells drilled near the outcrop have caused hazardous levels of methane contamination in nearby homes, methane seeps that kill vegetation, and damage to domestic water wells and springs, the lawsuit says.
Mike Clark, Petrox Resources president, said the company held off on drilling for five years to give the Forest Service time to complete environmental studies of the project. The company is moving forward because the lease period is running out, he said.
