DENVER—Federal officials are again saying exploratory drilling on Baca National Wildlife Refuge won’t cause significant impacts, but this time they’re including more details on restrictions they want to impose.
In a draft environmental assessment Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said plans for Lexam Explorations (USA) Inc. to drill two exploratory oil or gas wells on the refuge in southern Colorado won’t unreasonably degrade the land.
It made a similar conclusion in 2008, saying enough restrictions were in place to protect the refuge, next to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
After conservation groups sued in 2007, the agency agreed to assess the environmental impacts anew.
In its new draft assessment, the Fish and Wildlife Service said Lexam’s activities would take less than 180 days and that drilling restrictions would protect the refuge. This time, Lexam has agreed not to start building a second well pad until analyzing results of the first, said Michael Blenden of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We could conceivably end up with just one well and one road,” said Blenden, project leader for the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Under a preferred option listed in the new draft assessment, the agency would allow Lexam to drill the exploratory wells but require items including an inventory of water quality and of wildlife, cultural and other resources before work begins, Blenden said. It also would require a plan to monitor effects of drilling and construction, he said.
This time the agency also specified it wants to see a plan for where wastewater will go, instead of simply saying wastewater must be disposed of according to law, Blenden said. The agency also wants to approve a plan to prevent spills.
The draft assessment is open to public comments until Feb. 7, after which the Fish and Wildlife Service could enter a formal finding of no significant impacts or go through a more rigorous environmental review.
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, which was one of the groups that sued in 2007, is still exploring buying out Lexam’s mineral rights under the refuge.
“We really see that as the long-term opportunity for permanent protection,” council director Christine Canaly said.
Lexam obtained its mineral rights before the land was authorized in 2000 to become a national wildlife refuge. The company has offered to give up the rights for around $8.4 million but hasn’t had any responses.
The draft assessment said the government can only buy mineral interests for fair market value, which would likely fall under Lexam’s asking price.
Lexam has long contended its exploration plan wouldn’t harm the refuge. “This is just validation of this again,” Lexam spokesman Stefan Spears said of the new draft assessment.
Lexam still must apply for new state permits before drilling but has no immediate plans to do so yet. “The new environmental assessment is just the beginning of what could be a lengthy court procedure. We expect the new EA to be challenged,” Spears said.
Critics had complained a contractor hired by Lexam had too much of a role in crafting the first environmental assessment. For the new draft, federal officials handled more work in-house, Blenden said.
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