GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.—State regulators are holding a public forum on concerns about drilling gas wells near the site of an underground nuclear explosion in western Colorado.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission opened two days of hearings in Glenwood Springs on Tuesday. The agenda included discussion on drilling near Project Rulison, a nuclear explosion set off in 1969 in Garfield County to free up natural gas.
The gas was deemed too radioactive to sell. The government began deactivating and cleaning the area in the 1970s and monitored area groundwater.
Concerns about possible releases of radioactive contamination from the explosion have increased in the past few years as more wells have been drilled closer to the site. County officials want the Department of Energy to drill test wells close to the blast site before companies do, to make sure it’s safe.
The DOE, though, recently released a draft management plan for the area that recommends allowing companies to drill closer if they do it in stages.
The DOE prohibits drilling within 40 acres of the blast site. State regulators, who issue all drilling permits, alert the department when companies apply for drilling permits within three miles and require a hearing for permits within a half-mile.
The closest well is seven-tenths of a mile from the blast site. There are no applications for drilling permits within a half-mile.
