Updated by Staff

West Slope natural gas operator, Williams Production RMT, is challenging the legality of Garfield County requiring it to haul away drilling cuttings from natural gas well pads it operates within the Battlement Mesa housing development. Last month county commissioners imposed the requirement while granting land-use permitting for a pair of the company’s well pads within Battlement Mesa.

Williams says the county requirement runs contrary to Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission rules allowing burial of the cuttings on site if they don’t exceed state standards for contaminants. It argues that state authority preempts county authority in the case.

“We think that (county) condition is inconsistent with COGCC regulations, and it imposes additional costs and responsibilities on us,” Williams spokeswoman Susan Alvillar said. According to Alvillar, her company raised the issue in a letter to the county.

No comment has yet come from the Garfield County attorne’s office, and County attorney Don DeFord is scheduled to discuss the matter with commissioners on Monday. They’ll also decide whether to release the contents of the Williams letter to the public.

Under zoning approved back in 1982, permits for well pads in Battlement Mesa are required; something neither the county nor Williams apparently knew about until the recent drilling interest in the area by Antero Resources.

Commissioner Mike Samson told the Grand Junction Sentinel that how the state reacts to the requirement for Williams could indicate whether Colorado would seek to preempt other requirements the county may want to impose on Antero when that company puts forth its drilling proposal for Battlement Mesa to the county for review.

Commissioner Tresi Houpt, who also serves on COGCC, said at the time that she’s not anticipating pre-emption of local requirements being a problem under new oil and gas rules passed by the state commission.