Natural Gas and Ecosystem Conservation - A guest post by Alex Blevins

The fourth panel of the day was concerned with the relevant issue of Ecosystem Conservation in regards to Natural Gas (NG) extraction. This panel was comprised of the moderator- Mark Paschke, Chair of Restoration Ecology and Research Associate Dean for CSU’s WCNR, and the following panelists- Bob Randall, Deputy Director of CO Department of Natural Resources, Romeo Perez, Engineering Manager for XTO Energy, and Michael Powelson, Director of Energy Programs with the Nature Conservancy (TNC). Paschke initiated the discussion by overviewing why we should care about the land and its resources.

There are many reasons why we should be concerned with our national land, some of which include wildlife habitat, recreation and of course natural resources. We should also protect these lands for their utilization and enjoyment to future generations that may come. NG has already impacted, and could continue to impact, these values. So the question is… how are we going to minimize these impacts over time?

Well, back in 2008 an integral change in the laws surrounding oil and gas effects on wildlife and land occurred. House Bill 1298, and later, 1341 were passed in an attempt to balance drilling with conservation. Randall described to the audience what is was like before this rulemaking passed. From 2004-2008 there was more than a 200% increase in NG drilling which lead to augmenting concerns about damage to the land and issues within rural communities based on wildlife recreation. Together, these bills act to minimize drilling’s adverse effects to wildlife by adding the expertise of soil scientists, wildlife biologists, and ecologists from the CO Division of Wildlife, Parks and Recreation, and Department of Natural Resources. Operators must consult with these agencies to settle on conditions of approval for comprehensive drilling plans or wildlife mitigation plans. There are currently 18 of these plans in action with a handful of operators around the state. We hope that these will continue to improve as collaborative research pertaining to this issue continues to improve our understanding.

Next, Perez presented a case study of a wildlife mitigation plan from his own company, XTO energy, and how he is personally trying to lessen their footprint on the land. XTO is planning to reduce their disturbance by reusing produced water, increasing the number of wells per pad by more than 100% (9 to 22), decreasing their pad size by more than 20% (1 acre to .75 acres), and transitioning to year-round continuous activity. Perez calls this cluster development and he believes it will only have a 1.4% disturbance to the land surface. XTO also plans to restore mule deer habitat by removing pinon-juniper stands and is willing to trade with agencies for land swaps. After completion of the consultation, XTO projects received a FONSI, or a finding of no significant impact, from BLM. XTO and Exxon Mobil also started funding collaborative research projects in 2009, giving 1 million dollars per year. There are currently 9 ongoing projects and CSU is working on many of these.

Finally, Powelson ended the panel identifying the big problems with NG extraction. All of this was based on the concept of scale. Whether at the local/community or the regional/county perspective, potentially all states are going to be effected by NG drilling. Powelson warns the audience that NG is coming to a neighborhood near you and he is absolutely correct! Looking over a duration of shale play maps, we can see that there was a major BOOM in 2005. This can most directly be linked to the improved technologies of horizontal drilling and FRACKing. This boom continues to rise in recent years and we can only expect it to do the same in the future, with a predicted 30,000 wells per state in the next decade! NG is in the top three most impactful energy practices and the US is the leading country in NG extraction. The most dramatic image of this presentation was of Bakken Field in North Dakota at night. The flaring of excess gas at this well site is bigger and brighter than the city of Minneapolis! This is just one impact from another state, what of impacts in our state? Pronghorn on the Niobrara Shale have lost 50% of their habitat due to fragmentation from FRACKing. This is why TNC cares; the impacts are far too great and need to be mitigated against. There are 1 million abandoned wells in Pennsylvania. This is a complete travesty that Powelson hopes will not be permitted in the future.

Overall, we have heard that NG is here to stay and encroaching on our community. So what does the future hold? Better technologies, better laws, and better standards for reclamation… we surely hope so. Yes, there are misconceptions about NG, but there is an underlying truth. Ecosystem Conservation and NG must coexist in a balance to reduce the deleterious effects on wildlife and the land they call home.