Off-site improvements at wells optional

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — With drilling rigs sprouting across the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly instituted a policy that environmentalists fear will let companies off the hook when it comes to restoring land damaged by oil and gas development.

The Bureau of Land Management in February decided off-site improvements meant to compensate for well-site damage are optional. BLM officials say they can still withhold drilling permits if companies balk at mitigation work, but critics say the change symbolizes the Bush administration's push for more and faster domestic energy production.

"There's no excuse to so completely destroy a site that you need off-site mitigation," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. "If off-site mitigation is going to be an outcome, then it should be required. But in our view, they should be doing oil and gas projects right so we don't need off-site mitigation."

The Rockies have become ground zero in the rush to find new domestic sources of natural gas, oil and coal-bed methane. Industry experts say Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico have vast stores of energy waiting to be tapped and the BLM has been swamped for several years now with permits to drill.

The BLM's decision doesn't apply when endangered species or national historic sites are part of a potential drilling site.

Jamie Connell, manager of the BLM field office in Glenwood Springs, said the agency can negotiate with companies and require follow-through if mitigation work is part of the project.

"I have the carrot and the stick," Connell said.

EnCana Oil and Gas USA, one of the largest natural gas producers in Wyoming and Colorado, will consider off-site mitigation even though it is voluntary, said Eric Marsh, a vice president and the company's business unit leader in the southern Rockies.

"We think it's a win-win," Marsh said.

Others believe the BLM's decision formalizes a strategy used by companies to avoid strict environmental standards at the well site.

"It's just one more thing to streamline gas production and remove any roadblocks and reduce costs," said Bob Elderkin, a retired BLM employee in western Colorado.

While with BLM, Elderkin said, he proposed requiring off-site improvements to make up for roads, traffic and other developments tied to new wells. One idea was burning pinon and juniper trees, and planting sagebrush and native grasses to open up more wildlife habitat.