Reported by Staff

According to a news report on Monday, the Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy’s plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells within three miles of the Rulison underground nuclear blast in Garfield County.

The company intends to drill the new wells over the next three to five years, with none closer than half a mile from the Project Rulison site. The U.S. Department of Energy would have authority to sample any wells for radioactivity.

The project is still subject to White River National Forest review regarding a proposal for three-tenths of a mile of access road and pipelines crossing forest land. A 30-day public-comment period on that proposal ends Jan. 4.

The BLM said in its environmental assessment of the Noble drilling plan that both the state, through the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and the DOE are adequately addressing issues surrounding the development plans near Project Rulison. The agency said, however, it will ask the Energy Department to provide long-term monitoring of one of the proposed Noble wells.

As we’ve reported in Colorado Energy News, the Project Rulison site is where the federal government detonated a nuclear device in 1969 roughly 8,400 feet underground, with the hopes that it would produce natural gas. The blast did generate some gas, but not as much as anticipated, and what was produced was too radioactive to be used.

Compliance with state policy call for Noble Energy to test for the radioactive material, tritium, in drilling cuttings and fluids. If the tests are negative, Noble will be allowed to place cuttings in trenches or lined pits and bury them on site. The energy company says it plans to drill directionally from five well pads, all on private land. Thirty-nine of the wells would tap federally leased minerals; the remaining 40 involve private leases.

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