A Petition to Gain Information

I received a request last week (September 19, 2013) to help draw public attention to the very latest oil and gas drilling news in Huerfano County, Colorado. Although I have never started a petition before, I was encouraged to go this route.

Our petition requests a public meeting with Tabula Rasa Energy of Houston, Texas, before the Monday, October 7, 2013 deadline for public comment on their application to drill.

The main issues in this and in all industrial activity in Huerfano County are: (1) the protection of the quality of life and property values of our full-time resident households, and that of our numerous second-home owners who bring so much to enrich the area both culturally and economically; (2) education of industry about our unique geology and associated water problems; (3) the threat of heavy truck traffic sharing our scenic lanes and country roads; (4) avoiding a repeat of past industrial abuses in the county; and (5) preservation of this beautiful area, unique in all the world.

To Tabula Rasa Energy: We are not singling you out. The actions of your gas and oil compatriots precede you. It is troubling, as we have seen elsewhere, to have a pristine plain altered into a network of drilling pads, waste pits, tanks, pipelines, and service roads. My own stake in this was the loss of a family owned water well when coal bed methane operators pumped billions of gallons of produced water from the Huerfano County strata. This well had never gone dry, even in the heaviest droughts. "Prove it," is the standard reply from industry.

We can't prove it, but we can try to stop it from ever happening again. First, at considerable expense, we dug a deeper well. Then we got involved. That is why I am writing you today. Huerfano County is not the typical flat-plain candidate for an oil and gas field. The geologic forces here are so complex, to the extent of creating a matrix of magma-sourced dike walls radiating out from majestic mountain peaks. These are vertical intrusions from deep in the earth. They create brittle vertical channels that allow liquids and gases to migrate.

It is our understanding that Tabula Rasa Energy uses a technology that favors low vertical heterogeneity. How would that fit into the geology of our county, with its vertical complexity?

To Our State Regulators: Huerfano County, and Colorado for that matter, has changed. There has been an influx of new tax paying home owners. Many have homes on now sub-divided ranch land. Did any of these home owners anticipate industrial oil and gas as neighbors? Yet the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is mandated to promote oil and gas and not to be concerned about quality of life and property value issues. In their own words: " The law is intended to keep the general public safe when drilling and development occurs, and is not directed at protecting individual property values or a preferred quality of life."

To our county officials: Though many of the stakeholders who cherish this area cannot vote in local elections, it is time to empower them through involvement in political election campaigns. We also must examine the regulatory loopholes that extend from state level down and local level up. First of all, address the idea of preemption. Wherein if the laws of the county government come into “operational conflict” with those of the state government, the rules of the county government are preempted or in other words, over-ridden. As we see it, state preemption of Huerfano County's up-to-date and numerous regulations addressing quality of life and environment is an affront to the citizens who drafted them.

And then there are loopholes and exceptions at the county level, which at best send a mixed message. For example, we see in the final section (8.2.42) of the Huerfano County Oil and Gas Regulations, that the County Administrator can oversee an "informal dispute resolution process," which could conceivably negate the original intent of any or all of the County Oil and Gas Regulations.

In closing, we have a legitimate stake in what happens on the lands, waters, and roadways of Huerfano County. It is our intention to communicate our point of view to industrial developers, to our county officials, and to voters. These voters also benefit from a pristine outdoor environment for their family recreation. Certainly all of us benefit from the continued presence of second-home owners and tourists who participate in local affairs, shop, dine, seek lodging, hire contractors, engage health care services, and in this case, sign petitions alongside our voters.

Again, we are not singling out Tabula Rasa Energy. We simply request a public meeting sharing our ongoing concerns and viewpoints. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to meeting in the very near future.

Schizophrenic Behavior

Schizophrenic: 2. Of, relating to, or characterized by the coexistence of disparate or antagonistic elements.

In other words, schizophrenic is defined as holding opposing thoughts in one mind. Here are some examples of holding opposing (disparate or antagonistic) ideas in one mind.

 Fracking is great for the hotel/restaurant industry AND  Fracking destroys the scenery and drives tourists away.

We love Huerfano County's wide open spaces  AND let's bring on the frack crews, the frack pads, the pipelines, the congestion.

We love our families and children AND let's poison the air, deplete the water, and clog the highways with eighteen wheelers driven by inexperienced, overworked truck drivers.

We can hide the thousands of frack pads behind the ridges AND let's encourage horseback riding.  Also let's encourage artists to paint panoramas, and photographer's have dream scenery here.

We dislike city traffic AND let's make Huerfano County into a booming commercial area.

Too Soon to Tell

I received comments on my first post which was titled "Not a Good Fit for Huerfano".  They add enough as to make it worth reposting with the additions in italics:

Why shale oil, also known as light tight oil or LTO, and shale gas also known as natural gas, of which coal bed methane is a type found nearer the surface, are not a good fit for Huerfano County:

  First is water scarcity. Water use for fracking is very high. Water is highly mobile and if you dislike the city telling you not to water your grass, trees and shrubs, and you think that using water from one place will not effect water availability at another, you are sadly mistaken. Just ask the folks in the San Luis Valley. And if you think a future of difficulty getting your animals to water, let alone ensuring your own clean water at home will remain unaffected, just remember that many of your fellow citizens sounded the alarm. Ask any neighbors that have tried to sell their home or ranch when there is no potable water on the property how quickly they sold their land. Petroleum tank and waste processing pads and access roads and waste water collection ponds will cover the county and strip the grassland cover. Less rain will fall due to decreased water evaporation from grass cover, and rain will run off faster with less seeping into the ground and aquifers. Everything in life is eventually paid for and while I fully understand the allure of relatively easy money, especially compared to how hard it is to earn money at ranching these days, we must ask ourselves, what is this water really worth once it is polluted and much remains forever out of reach thousands of feet below us? When ethanol was first introduced into our gasoline, almost everyone hailed its arrival. Farmers liked the increase demand for corn, environmentalists liked the idea of decreased pollution. But then we began to learn that the diesel fuel used in growing and harvesting the corn virtually offset the environmental benefits. We learned that decreased corn available to our neighbors to the south was causing hunger issues in Mexico. When such stories remain so vivid, is it not wise to wait awhile until we know more about the dangers? The future of water in the West IS the future of the West.

  Second is the health of humans and livestock. Polluted water and polluted air from fracking affects us all, as well as the health of all our animals and wildlife. It is a reasonable objection to assert that we are not yet knowledgeable about all the possible health risks. But this much we can say. There is growing evidence that health concerns may be warranted. It is all too easy, at first, to deny initial concerns about cigarettes, Agent Orange and countless pharmaceuticals causing side effects. But equally frequently those initial denials (often strenuously posited by multinational corporations) turn out to be wrong. Cigarettes were once advertised as being healthy! Again, is it not wise to wait and gather more information? The carbon based fuels beneath us, if there are any, are not going anywhere.

  Third, is the threat to our strongest asset, our beautiful countryside. Tanks, pads and burn-off stacks everywhere, along with heavy truck traffic, will drive away people who come here because of its beauty. Forget the tourists for a moment. What about US? Do we want hundreds of semis barreling down our streets? Do our kids? Everyone seems to agree that eventually we simply must convert to renewable sources of energy. Just as many people claim the need for natural gas as a “cross-over” fuel, so many others, equally well-informed experts, are convinced that if Americans stood up and demanded a more speedy transition to renewables, America would in fact surprise us all, and through its entrepreneurial ingenuity, could lead the world into this new and brighter future. Again, isn’t the wise path to wait, gather more of the information that is constantly and rapidly becoming available?
  The deck is stacked in favor of the oil and gas industry and the regulators. How do we fight back? We must not accept the power of corporations and regulators to make these decisions for us. Many residents have collected lease sign-up checks, but now see that to go further may well destroy our way of life in exchange for brown skies, traffic hazards, and depleted water. This can be stopped. As a county, we simply have to say "No, not here. At least not yet, not until we know more. Our county commissioners are on notice...we will remember who sold us out too soon and for too little and without enough information." All over the United States communities are standing up for their rights. Let's do it in Huerfano County. More could be added here, such as the effect of 25,000 acre units which consolidate mineral leases, where your lease can be extended indefinitely as long as there is exploratory drilling in the unit. And how drilling units will spread the royalties evenly so that no one lease gets all the benefit of what is directly underneath. In short, before leasing or renewing, read that fine print, or better yet think about it, just as we need to think about all of the other factors before committing to something we all will wind up regretting.

Very Brave Couple Drives Coast to Coast

Liz Nelson visited Huerfano County in July 2013.  She wrote a story about her efforts:

On a nationwide tour, the" frackmobile" left New Jersey on July 3rd and arrived here in La Veta on July 9th. The frackmobile is a mobile billboard highlighting the dangers of fracking to our resources and environmental health. It is the creation of New Jersey resident Liz Nelson, who became part of regional citizens fight to keep fracking out of the Delaware River Basin and keep toxic radioactive drill cuttings and frack waste from being stored treated or disposed in her state. “The anti-frackmobile was born when I realized that, if I placed my canoe on the roof rack of my hybrid Toyota Highlander, it would make a great billboard for the cause.” We have traveled all over my own region and to Washington DC. We lobby in state capitols, attend hearings about water withdrawals, pipelines and compressor stations, fracking regulations, and especially frack waste disposal. Recently our efforts have been joined by former frack waste haulers who have testified to the abysmal lack of worker protection and unregulated illegal handling of waste. The writing on the canoe and car is very effective, instantly drawing attention to the subject and engaging people in conversation. It also raises the spirits of citizens working hard in the trenches trying to avoid the terrible destruction of communities and permanent pollution, which fracking has brought. The Delaware River, which is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi, is drinking water for more that 15 million people in the region, and is designated an "exceptional value river " because of its wild and scenic beauty. It also provides enormous recreational benefit to the region from fishing, boating and camping, which generates revenues and brings wealth to riverside-destination towns. When the Delaware River Basin Commission, which is charged with protecting the waters of the Delaware, was asked to draft regulations for drilling and fracking for methane, more than 60,000 local petitioners decided it was unacceptable and a moratorium is still in place. And just this week two big gas corporations have abandoned drilling leases on 80,000 acres of land in the pristine Upper Delaware, which is a huge victory. New Jerseyans have become aware of the toxic levels of contamination of air and water, loss of property value, and impacts on public and animal health , which have occurred in the fracking frenzy in Pennsylvania, just a couple of hours away, and we are not going to let that happen to us. Water is life. We cannot live without it. We are finding this is true in the densely populated Northeast. We do not have water to waste on fracking . In Pennsylvania the loss of some of the most pristine rivers and streams of the country to fracking is an atrocity. We are finding that in the Southwest water is already scarce and should be treated with the utmost respect. One of Liz's first adventures in La Veta was to hike to Lily Lake near Ellingwood Peak, which is the headwaters of the Huerfano River. Liz, Jim, and faithful frack-puppy pose with the colorful frackmobile.

An Appeal to the Stakeholders in Huerfano County's Natural Wonders

I wrote this as a response to the Summer Visitors Guide published by a local newspaper:

 We discover anew the wonders of this area in the just-released colorful Signature Visitor's Guide. But we have a huge task to preserve all this natural beauty and opportunity for adventure. From Greenhorn Mountain to the Spanish Peaks, industrial oil and gas has a more sinister view of western Huerfano County. Greedy landmen have already solicited the U.S. Forest Service to lease the San Isabel National Forest at the base of the Spanish Peaks and around Cuchara for industrial oil development. What is more, 100,000s of acres have been leased in the awesome Yellowstone Road area and north to Gardner. In a conversation with a former EPA official last week, I learned that 3000 bore holes could be horizontally drilled beneath leased lands in Huerfano County. Each of these requires truck traffic in the thousands of trips to bring in water, silica substances, and fracking chemicals, and take away waste water to remote disposal facilities (if we are lucky).

The county needs help from the population segments represented  in the Signature special edition. If you are a hiker, hunter, fisherman, photographer, pilot, artist, quilter, musician, writer—the list goes on, you need to get involved in your special way, through your organizations or creative works, to protect the land from which you receive your recreation and inspiration. It is really very simple. Two photographs could tell the entire story. One of the area as it appears now and the other of a trashed industrial gas/oil field, barren well pads, and dusty, traffic-filled access roads. I can't think of a greater peril than the one we face in western Huerfano County. We need to protect our air, our water, our natural wonders, and our liberties by using our various gifts and talents to alert all our visitors and residents to what is at risk. Remember, with 3000 wells and tens of thousands truck trips, as well as high-pressure drilling pipes and escaping underground gases, it takes only one accident in the allowable 500-foot setback to severely damage a child's or elderly person's health and leave a permanent, stinking, oil-soaked stain on the earth. And there will inevitably be such accidents. That is the risk. And the reward will come by eliminating dangerous industrial activities in this artistic, sports, and vacation paradise.

Property Rights and Property Wrongs

Fracking traffic is a big risk in a small town:


If you grew up in the 1950s the landscape was more empty and free. Though the population is stable or diminishing in rural areas, population distribution has changed significantly.  Land owners find they can subdivide property for people seeking a home in the countryside.  It is a win/win situation.  But now some of us find ourselves stuck in the 1950s. I once bought a wood lot in Maine and encountered all sorts of regulatory restrictions. The last straw was when I was told by a forester that timber harvesting is restricted because the land has a deer wintering area.
Fast forward to La Veta and Huerfano County. The land is no longer empty and free to do anything we like.  Our property rights may become property wrongs if our neighbor's health is threatened by the spill-over from activities on private land.  Take for instance the traffic situation in a small town like La Veta.  If the gas and oil frackfields in the shale underlying our fair valley were to be developed to their full potential, it could require tens of thousands of truckloads passing through the streets of La Veta.  We would all suffer from inconvenience and worst, the danger of 18 wheelers at all hours congesting Highway of Legends, Oak, and Main Streets. Those of my mindset or age have to consider the new circumstances. Fracking equals heavy trucking activity, but pray it not be on the streets of La Veta where residents, visitors, children, and many retired people enjoy the clean peaceful country setting on trips to and in town. In short, we can't have it both ways.  Welcome to 21st century reality.

Nothing in Fracking Benefits These Essentials.

We took a weekend trip north. Here are my observations:

Some here admire a northern county's gas and oil boom. They should take a closer look. Flat and with dirty skies, this particular county is no Huerfano County in terms of scenic wonders. Brown tanks and black burn-off stacks virtually line the highways there. It is just two years into a fracking boom and grass and crop lands are growing more and more barren due to service roads and well pads.  Will fly-by-night drilling companies post adequate bonds to heal the land in Huerfano County?  Who is minding the store? It is very understandable to collect a sign-on fee to lease your mineral rights, but seller's remorse may be settling in when you think about the damage to come. What to do? There is nothing in mineral leases protecting drillers when informed public opinion brings second thoughts. It is entirely reasonable, after looking at places where fracking has marred the landscape, to affirm that we have the right and the duty to protect our livestock, our water, our landscape, and our loved ones from a similar fate. With Shell leaving, there are already signs that the boom has become a bubble.  Boom, bubble, bust.  If Huerfano County were to be fracked to the limit, it would fuel the United States for around 20 days.  That isn't much of a trade-off. I get kind of a sick feeling when I think about Huerfano County looking like a  wasteland for the rest of my life. And remember, healthy livestock, like healthy people, require clean air, clean soil, healthy nutrition, and good water. Nothing in fracking benefits these essentials.