Agency OKs gas drilling in refuge near dunes

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to let a Canadian energy company drill for natural gas in a wildlife refuge in the San Luis Valley, within two miles of the popular Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

The proposal announced Friday to allow drilling of two test wells in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge drew an outcry from environmental groups worried about the impact on wildlife, air and water quality, and the nearby national park.

“We feel it’s an utterly inappropriate area to have gas and oil drilling, on many accounts,” said Ceal Smith, coordinator of the San Luis Valley Water Protection Coalition, formed to oppose the drilling.

Federal officials, though, say their hands are tied.

The refuge was created a few years ago as part of a 100,000-acre purchase of the Baca Ranch, originally granted to the Baca family by the U.S. government in exchange for land lost in the Mexican-American War. Some of the ranch was incorporated into the new Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The stated purpose of the refuge is “to restore, enhance and maintain wetland, upland, riparian and other habitats for wildlife, plants and fish species that are native to the San Luis Valley.”

The refuge is so new, it’s not open to the public. But it has been open to representatives of Toronto-based Lexam Energy Exploration.

That’s because the company, as well as oil company ConocoPhillips, owned the mineral rights to 54,000 acres of the ranch, and the Department of Interior couldn’t reach an agreement on buying the mineral rights as part of the $33 million deal.

“We’re darn lucky we ended up with the surface estate at all,” said Mike Blenden, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s manager of the refuge.

Since Lexam owned the mineral rights before the land became a wildlife refuge, Blenden said the Fish and Wildlife Service had no grounds to prevent drilling, as was urged by many of the 48,500 people who submitted comments on the proposal.

“From a wildlife-management standpoint, I would rather there not be any drilling or any exploration at all, but that’s not reality,” Blenden said.

The document released Friday is an environmental assessment of the drilling. It lists the “preferred alternative” — the course the agency is likely to follow — as allowing the drilling with some environmental caveats.

The company wants to drill two test wells, which would involve bulldozing and clearing 14.5 acres for roads and well pads, according to the document.

It would result in “reduction or alteration of habitat, habitat fragmentation and animal displacement,” the agency wrote. Plus, noise and human presence would drive off animals, and some could be killed by trucks and vehicles.

Despite those warnings, officials believe there would be “no significant impact” to the refuge as a whole because of protective measures — including environmental monitoring, water sampling, specialized drilling techniques and other requirements — and the temporary nature of the drilling.

The closest drilling rig to Great Sand Dunes National Park would be about two miles from the northern boundary of the park and “would be hard to discern by the casual viewer,” the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote. The agency wrote that lights and noise from the rigs would not likely be noticed.

Although park superintendent Art Hutchinson had not seen the document Friday, he has concerns. The park had 285,000 visitors last year, though few ever venture to the remote northern area near the drilling. Its 750-foot sand dunes are the highest in North America.

“Obviously, any time a new use or industry comes in, we have some concerns,” Hutchinson said.

Though this drilling would be temporary, just how temporary depends on what Lexam finds.

“If they do find valuable quantities and want to develop them, at that point it’s a whole new chapter in the story,” Blenden said.

Parts of the state are experiencing a natural gas boom, but it has so far not affected the San Luis Valley. That could change with the exploration.

The prospect concerns Saguache County commissioners enough that they are drafting a proposal for a moratorium on future drilling, which would not affect the Baca proposal. The mayor of Crestone has also voiced opposition to the Baca drilling.

Environmental groups that sued to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to require the environmental assessment before allowing drilling plan to challenge its findings.

“There are a lot of technical questions that have not been answered about the impact to the aquifer,” said Smith, of the citizen coalition. “We’re not going to be at all satisfied with the findings of no significant impacts and we will be challenging it.”

If the company wanted to begin production of gas, he said, it would probably require an environmental impact statement, a much more involved process. Lexam said in a news release in July that its total prospect area is 2,180 acres.

The environmental assessment is available at www.fws. gov/alamosa/bacanwr.html. The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting comments through March 2, which may be submitted to baca_ea@fws. gov or to San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 9383 El Rancho Lane, Alamosa, CO 81101.

If the agency’s regional director approves the environmental assessment, Lexam could begin drilling this summer.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com