CHEYENNE — A landowners’ group is calling on Wyoming oil and gas regulators to increase the minimum distance between drilling rigs and dwellings.
The staff of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission this month proposed increasing the minimum setback distance for a vertically drilled well to 500 feet. The minimum setback for wells drilled into the ground and then horizontally would increase to 750 feet. The current minimum distance is 350 feet for all drilling rigs.
The Powder River Basin Resource Council this week contacted Gov. Matt Mead and other commission members to ask that the setbacks be increased up to 750 feet for vertical wells and a quarter mile for horizontal wells.
The five-member commission could vote next month to take public comment on final rules before implementing them.
“We wanted to take the opportunity in this interim to really put before them again some of the really important data coming out about how important it is to have a greater setback than 750 feet,” said Jill Morrison of the council. “Especially when you’re talking about these large well pads that have multiple wells. It’s not uncommon to see these wells where they have 20 to 30 wells on a pad.”
Mead’s spokeswoman Michelle Panos said Tuesday that the setback rules have yet to undergo the administrative process which lays out a proposed distance and allows for public comment.
Petroleum Association of Wyoming vice president John Robitaille said Tuesday that his group is still researching the setback issue to determine if the proposed rules would have a detrimental effect on mineral rights.
