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New bill gives drillers more time
Colo. Supreme Court says water permits required at wells
Herald Denver Bureau
The court case began when two Southwest Colorado ranching families sued the state, claiming coal-bed methane wells were hurting their water rights. The district court found for the ranchers, and the Supreme Court agreed in April. Under the Supreme Court's ruling, all 4,600 coal-bed methane wells in Colorado would have had 60 days to get a water well permit.
That would have caused massive headaches for both the gas and oil industry and the state Division of Water Resources, which doesn't have the staffing to process thousands of permits at once.
"We would have had to shut down wells while they applied for permit approval - an outcome we all wanted to avoid," Ritter said.
House Bill 1303, which Ritter signed Tuesday, holds the court ruling at bay until March 31, 2010. In the meantime, the state engineer's office will pass rules that integrate coal-bed methane wells into the state's water permitting system.
The sponsors were Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison.
The plaintiffs - William and Elizabeth Vance and James and Mary Fitzgerald - live near Bayfield. The families and their lawyer cooperated on the drafting of HB 1303.
The bill passed unanimously in the House and the Senate. The Southern Ute tribe supported it because, although the tribe regulates gas and oil wells on its own, it relies on state regulation for water wells, and it wanted the benefit of the time-out the new law puts on the Supreme Court ruling.
Coal-bed methane accounts for most of the natural-gas production in Southwest Colorado. It's also a major source of gas in the Trinidad area. It involves pumping groundwater out of coal seams to free the gas underneath. The Vances and Fitzgeralds proved to the courts that the process could harm their senior water rights.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
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This 490-acre ranch has exquisite views of the La Plata Mountains, Weber Reservoir & Mesa Verde. Bordered on 2 sides by national forest with abundant wildlife, lush meadows, ponderosa pine, gambel oak, aspen & cottonwoods. A seasonal stream runs through the heart of the ranch. $3,800,000
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