Letter to County Commissioners - May 29

May 29, 2012 --- via email and postal mail

Board of County Commissioners of Huerfano County
401 Main St.
Walsenburg, Colorado 81089

Dear Commissioners Bobian, Cain and King,

As you know, Shell has filed four applications for permit to drill (APDs) for oil along the La Veta syncline in the Gardner area. You are also aware of our recent requests to County Administrator John Galusha, in his capacity as Local Government Designee:

1. for public notice, in the local newspapers and to an email list set up for this purpose, as soon as he is notified by the COGCC of all APDs in Huerfano County

2. for him to hold a public meeting on new APDs, early in the public comment period, to gather public concerns to be communicated by the LGD to the COGCC

3. for him to ask the COGCC for a 10-day extension to the public comment period on these new Shell APDs, currently set to expire June 7, 2012.

In response to our requests, Mr. Galusha said that he consulted with the COGCC’s acting director, Thom Kerr, and was instructed to deny these requests, and that, at the May 23, 2012 BOCC meeting, you all concurred with Mr. Kerr’s recommendation. However, we also understand that Mr. Kerr’s boss, Mike King -- executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and head of Governor Hickenlooper’s recent oil and gas regulation task force --  says that “The LGD is the person who takes the requests, concerns and comments of local citizens to the attention of the COGCC. They answer to their local government board or commission, so the position is not merely a figurehead,” says King. “The LGD is the key to a robust process for us.”  (source: http://s3.amazonaws.com/exceptual_loewy/coloradoenergynews-cache/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mike-king-interview.pdf  )

We write to you, as our elected commissioners, asking that you direct Mr. Galusha to fulfill his duties as Local Government Designee, including the above three requests, and that you also direct him to: 

4.  ask the COGCC for a CDPHE consultation on the Fortune well site, which is upstream less than five miles from the Gardner community water wells.

We would appreciate your action as soon as possible, and a written response to this request.

Thank you for your consideration,

Board of Directors
Citizens for Huerfano County
P.O. Box 1193
La Veta, CO 81055-1193

cc: Mike King, Thom Kerr, Lt. Gov Joe Garcia, Huerfano World Journal, La Veta Signature

Letter to Mike King - May 29

May 29, 2012 – via email and postal mail

Mike King
Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 718
Denver, Colorado  80203

Dear Mr. King,

Your vision of the local government designee (LGD) as “the person who takes the requests, concerns and comments of local citizens to the attention of the COGCC” and “the key to a robust process” is nowhere near reality down here in Huerfano County. (source: http://s3.amazonaws.com/exceptual_loewy/coloradoenergynews-cache/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mike-king-interview.pdf  )

Last year, as you may recall, our LGD was not even informed by the COGCC of the Klikus well APD, and when he did learn of it, and of our anger over the public comment period being waived without our knowledge, he and our Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) refused to ask the COGCC for a public hearing on our behalf.  This year, our LGD was apparently informed of the four new Shell APDs in the Gardner area, but once again, he and the BOCC seem to want nothing to do with helping the public learn about or comment on these important local developments. 

After we requested that the LGD inform the public and host a public meeting to gather input on new APDs to take to the COGCC on our behalf, and for the extra ten days to provide public comment allowed by COGCC Rule 305c.,  the LGD told us he conferred with Thom Kerr, acting director of the COGCC.
Apparently Mr. Kerr told him (1) that LGD need not provide the public with any notice of APDs, (2) that the LGD need not hold any kind of meeting to gather public input to take to the COGCC on behalf of the public, and (3) that the LGD need not ask the COGCC for an extension to the public input period when asked by the public to do so.  Our requests were denied by unanimous BOCC action on May 23.

We are writing to ask you to address and resolve these three issues, in the spirit of the Governor’s recent task force on oil and gas regulation, and we are adding a fourth issue – (4) that the LGD also ask for a CDPHE consultation on the Fortune well site (one of the four new Shell filings), because it is less than five miles and directly upstream from the Gardner community water wells.

The 500 members of Citizens for Huerfano County appreciate your assistance in helping us to protect our health, safety, welfare and environment and we thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. Please let us hear from you very soon.

Sincerely,
Sandy Borthick, on behalf of
Citizens for Huerfano County
borthick@amigo.net

cc: Acting COGCC Director Thomas Kerr, Huerfano Board of County Commissioners, Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia, Huerfano World Journal, La Veta Signature

SHELL WELL ALERT: 4 APDs IN GARDNER AREA

BLASTED MAY 23

On Friday May 18 through Monday May 21, SWEPI OFFICIALLY FILED APDs (applications for permits to drill) FOR 4 LOCATIONS IN HUERFANO COUNTY STRETCHING FROM NORTH OF GARDNER DOWN TO MAJOR'S RANCH/YELLOWSTONE RD.  THESE ARE THEIR FIRST FOUR SINCE THE LA VETA KLIKUS WELL (NOW ON HOLD).

Here are the locations:

ALL FOUR LOCATIONS

Click to enlarge

FORTUNE 4-9 (37.801253, -105.223147)

Click to enlarge

STATE 2-36 (37.750078, -105.169544)

Click to enlarge

SEIBERT 3-8 (37.712842, -105.134039) 

Click to enlarge

FREEMAN 3-24 (37.684831, -105.067631) 

Click to enlarge

To see the detailed information and documentation on them go to the COGCC website : http://cogcc.state.co.us/
1) Click the Permits link in the left menu bar.
2) Enter Huerfano County in both "Pending Applications" and "Location Assessments" to pull them all up
3) On EACH Click under Documents to read all the info about them

THE COGCC 20 DAY PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD EXPIRES JUNE 6!

4) Click under eTask then Login and Comments to leave comments (or just email the COGCC directly).
That's a lot of reading and responding!    The Huerfano Local Government Designee to the COGCC (LGD), John Galusha, can, by the COGCC rules, ask the COGCC for a 10 day extension if he were so convinced ... so far we have not succeeded with that, but maybe you would have more success!

 The LGD is, according to the Governor's task force and the DNR, a key link between the public and the Oil and Gas Commission:
 http://coloradoenergynews.com/2012/04/task-force-on-oil-and-gas-regs-leave-unanswered-questions-for-some/
"One of the COGCC initiatives that task force members welcomed is the local government designee (LGD). While they won’t have any enforcement responsibility, the local designees can bring issues of concern directly to the COGCC.    'The LGD is the person who takes the requests, concerns and comments of local citizens to the attention of the COGCC. They answer to their local government board or commission, so the position is not merely a figurehead,” says King. 'The LGD is the key to a robust process for us.''"  (Mike King is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, under which the COGCC functions.)

Huerfano County LGD is John Galusha and his contact information is on the Huerfano County website:  http://www.huerfano.us/County_Administrator.html

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions citizensforhuerfanocounty@gmail.com

Request to LGD for 10-day Extension - May 21

May 21, 2012 -- via email and hand delivered

To: John Galusha, Huerfano County Administrator and Local Government Designee
From: Sandy Borthick, on behalf of Citizens for Huerfano County

Re: Request 10-day extension for public comment on Shell COGCC filings

As you know, Shell recently filed eight applications for permit to drill (APDs, form 2) and accompanying location assessments (form 2A) for their four sites near Gardner. We have begun to review these documents, but are concerned that we will not have time to complete our review in the usual 20-day time frame allowed by the COGCC.

On our behalf, and in your capacity as local government designee, would you kindly request the 10-day extension so that we may complete our review and file substantive questions? 

Thank you for your consideration,

Sandy Borthick
on behalf of
Citizens for Huerfano County
borthick@amigo.net

Open Letter to LGD John Galusha - May 18

May 18, 2012

John Galusha
Huerfano County Administrator and Local Government Designee
401 Main St.Walsenburg, CO 81089

 Dear Mr. Galusha,

In a recent interview with Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Mike King,  we read about the important role you play as our local government designee (LGD). “The LGD is the person who takes the requests, concerns and comments of local citizens to the attention of the COGCC. They answer to their local government board or commission, so the position is not merely a figurehead,” says King.  “The LGD is the key to a robust process for us.”  If you haven’t already seen the article, you can read it at  http://s3.amazonaws.com/exceptual_loewy/coloradoenergynews-cache/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mike-king-interview.pdf

Since Huerfano County is undeniably targeted for potentially large scale oil and gas development (the next Niobrara field?),  we want to be sure that this robust process is established, and that we can rely on you, as our LGD, to bring our requests, concerns and comments to the attention of the COGCC.  To this end, we make these practical requests:

1. Please inform the public as soon as you learn, and  in as much detail as possible, about any applications for permits to drill (APDs) in Huerfano County

• The only way we have now to learn about these APDs  is by monitoring the COGCC website, and there is only a 20-day public  input period, unless you, as our LGD,  ask the COGCC for a 10-day extension.  Since you are notified by the COGCC, and the state clearly wants you to be the liaison with the people, could you please (1) post an alert in the newspapers and (2) put out an email notice  to those of us who would want to subscribe to an email list for this?  These notices should go out as soon as you receive the APD notice, and they should at  least  include: where the well is, what type of well (oil, gas, CBM) and whether it is to be hydraulically fractured, who the operator is, links to website(s) where we can get more information, and any other information you believe the public needs. Please also include information about how/where/when to contact you about the APD.  Which brings us to:

2. Please host a public forum early in the 20-day public comment period, to gather public questions, concerns and comments on each well APD

• This meeting should be held during non-business hours and early enough in the 20-day public comment period  for you to (1) gather public input,  (2) determine if you need to request  the 10-day extension from the COGCC (by day 12) , and (3) decide whether to call for the CDPHE consultation (by day 14).  This meeting should be publicly announced along with the APD filing, in the same email, and in the same newspaper notice. 

We hope you agree that these process changes will help to allow meaningful participation by the people of Huerfano County in these matters which have the potential to dramatically affect our health, safety, welfare and environment. Please let us hear from you soon.

Citizens for Huerfano County
PO BOX 1193
La Veta, CO 81055-1193

Paper and email copies to: Huerfano Board of County Commissioners, Huerfano County Planning and Zoning Commission, Thom Kerr (Acting Director, COGCC), Mike King (Executive Director, Colorado Dept. of Natural Resources), Huerfano World Journal, La Veta Signature Newspaper

Public Input on Jenny C1 Well

POSTED TO COGCC SITE MAY 18-20

Here is the Public Input that was given by CHC to the COGCC on the Jenny C1 well.

1. The Pit and Water/Soil ProtectionThe water table listed is only 14 feet and the hydraulic conductivity of the soils at the site at least "moderately high".  How will the COGCC ensure compliance of surrounding water and soils with the concentration levels in table 910-1? Pit liners are known to leak. Will there be baseline sampling and monitoring? Are additional requirements from 901.c appropriate?  They are probably not sufficient in this case.  Closed loop drilling should be used.  Otherwise, this pit creates a danger and a risk. Also, where is the pit application (Form 15)? What is going to be in the pit? What waste will there be and how will it be disposed of?

2. Baseline Water TestingThere appear to be about 3-4 water wells within approx. 1/2 mile of this site.  Given the other questions, it is important that they be tested.  Additionally, the Huerfano River is approx. 1/2 mile away and could be impacted.  Downstream testing would help monitor surface water pollution levels and ensure compliance.

3. Nearby Oil and Gas Wells in Same FormationForm 2 #19 has the distance to the nearest well permitted/completed in the same formation as 30 miles, and the proposed total measured depth is 2250. Impact Energy well Huerfano State 1-36 is about 500 feet away and it had 2,150 TVD. There are 4 wells (Huerfano State 1-36, HRI-BAR 35-1, Huerfano State 2-36, and Sporleder 1-26) within approx. 1 mile that have TVD of 1800-2330.  Please evaluate the accuracy of the application on this point, and examine the records of these nearby O&G wells to ensure they have integrity and pose NO risk in this case. 

4. Improvements/Canal Close to SiteForm 2A #15 says "There are no improvements within 400 ft of the site." Rule 303.d(3)C requires this information. Yet, there seems to be a canal to the south-southwest less than 400 feet away (see Google maps). Please evaluate the accuracy of the application on this point, and the implication of the canal so close.

5. Sensitive Area Non-Determination Form 2A #14 has "Is this a sensitive area?" = NO and "Was a Rule 901.e Sensitive Area Determination performed?" =  NO.  How can the operator claim this is not a sensitive area if the No Sensitive Area Determination has been made?  Is this a flaw in the application?

6. Sensitive Wildlife HabitatIn Form 2A #1 "This location is in a sensitive wildlife habitat area" is NOT checked, but a quick check of the COGIS maps indicates that it IS (for the Pronghorn).  Please evaluate the accuracy of the application on this point, and the implication of the SWH.

7. CDOW and CDPHEWhat did CDOW do and what information did they look at to assess the location before passing their Form 2A task?  What did CDPHE do and what information did they look at to assess the location before passing their Form 2A task?

8. Source of Certain Information on the Form 2AForm 2A (#6) has that salt sections and H2S are NOT expected to be encountered.  Form 2A And #10 and #11 Current/Future Land Use = "Dry land". How were these determined?

9. Aquifer ProtectionThe surface casing is planned to go 250' deep.  What is the location/depth of deepest aquifer, and where did the information come from?  Bedrock aquifers do exist in Huerfano county (see e.g. McLaughlin - USGS paper 1805).

10. Dikes/Faults/FracturesWhat are the locations of the deep dikes/fractures/faults in the vicinity?  These features create secondary hydraulic conductivity from depth to surface. They can be transmissive. Dikes are mapped on the surface (www.spanishpeakscolorado.com/Dikes&Roads.html), but not all are visible on the surface.  They extruded from the magma and not all reached the surface. These features should be avoided.  What has been done to determine separation and barriers from these natural features (both during drilling and fracking) at the location?

11. Type of Well and Drilling Plan?Will this be a vertical well? There is no drilling plan diagram.  Also, is this well for oil, gas or CBM? "Gas" is checked in Form 2 #2, but the planned depth is comparable to prior CBM wells drilled in the county, and the Niobrara is being explored by SWEPI for oil. Given the problems with Petroglyph and CBM drilling, please be careful not to allow the same situation/problem to occur.

12. Will There Be Hydraulic Fracturing? Examination of the other oil and gas wells nearby (Impact Energy), shows there was no production. Will this well be hydraulically fractured?  There are no production pits listed. Would that mean 'no'? If it IS to be fracked, what is the depth and direction?  This would have to be known to evaluate in advance the presence of adequate frack barriers and lack of connectivity to natural fractures which can move fluids out of the target formation.

Pending Drilling Applicatio​n: NRG Jenny C 1 and Info on COGCC Docs

BLASTED MAY 7

Happy Spring CHCers! While we uneasily wait for SWEPI to file their next applications for permits to drill (APDs) near Gardner, a small company called NRG Inc. has filed an APD on the Jenny C well, located near I-25, on the west side of the highway and south-south-west of the Huerfano Butte. Public comments are due by May 20.  You can read the filing, see the maps and plans on the COGCC website:

1) Go to http://cogcc.state.co.us/

2) Click "Permits" link on the left and select "Huerfano County" in "All Pending Applications" and "All Pending Location Assessments".   You will see the well listed there and several different links available to click on it.

(By the way, that is also where you will see any/all SWEPI applications when they are posted, and the SWEPI Klikus La Veta well is already there under Approved.)

 The 'documents' for this Jenny well are also available directly at: http://ogccweblink.state.co.us/results.aspx?id=400260765 and http://ogccweblink.state.co.us/results.aspx?id=400261755 . 

There was previously an application at this location, but the well was not drilled, and the permit expired.  APDs expire after 2 years. It's not certain if the well will be drilled this time or not.  Here is info on the previous permit:  http://ogccweblink.state.co.us/results.aspx?id=05506300.

In keeping with CHC’s  mission to protect the health, safety, welfare and environment from the effects of oil and gas development in Huerfano County, please write and/or email the COGCC and ask that they:
(1) complete a full hydrogeology study before granting any more permits in Huerfano County,
(2) complete a full review of wildlife habitat before granting any more permits to drill in Huerfano County,
(3) complete a full health baseline before granting any more permits to drill in Huerfano County
(4) apply our Seven Safeguards (for a refresher, see http://huerfanofrack.blogspot.com/p/our-7-safeguards.html) as Conditions of Approval (COAs) to any permit they do grant.
Email your comment: to acting COGCC Director Thom Kerr at thom.kerr@state.co.us
Postal mail to:

COGCC
Attention: Acting Director Thom Kerr
1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 801
Denver, Colorado   80203

Note:  although we have not used it yet, the COGCC seems to be offering online Public commenting during this APD process.  It is here: https://cogcc.state.co.us/eform/?LoginName=public&Password=public&Auto=1&DocNum=400261755

and here https://cogcc.state.co.us/eform/?LoginName=public&Password=public&Auto=1&DocNum=400260765 . 

After going there and logging in as the default Public User, you can Click the green square under tasks to see COGCC approval tasks in progress, or click the "Comments" button under "Comments" to give this commenting functionality a trial run if you wish.