A court ruling that methane- gas wells need water permits from the state engineer could create a hardship for state regulators and the energy industry, a top state official said Wednesday.
Harris Sherman, director of the state Department of Natural Resources, said the ruling “raises serious questions” about the ability of the state engineer to process such applications and the industry’s ability to find replacement water.
Harris made his comments at the Rocky Mountain Natural Gas Strategy Conference at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
In July, a Durango water judge ruled in favor of two farm families who argued that coal-bed methane wells should also have water-well permits, since they produce large quantities of water.
The court also said that drillers had to show they were not impairing neighboring water supplies. When an operation affects supplies, it usually has to provide replacement water.
Southern Colorado’s Raton Basin is the site of a projected major expansion in coal-bed methane drilling, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission.
There are already 2,900 wells in Las Animas and Huerfano counties.
About 230,000 barrels of water are produced each day in the Raton Basin by coal-bed methane wells, according to Pioneer Natural Resources Co., the major operator in the area.
“There is simply no replacement water to be had in that area of the state,” Sherman said. “It would be a problem.”
The state has appealed the water court ruling, Sherman said.
“If the ruling is reversed on appeal, then it’s not a problem,” Sherman said.
“If it isn’t, we may have to seek some legislative solution,” he said.
Colorado regulations classify the water from methane wells as byproduct waste.
Staff writer Mark Jaffe can be reached at 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com.
