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Home My WebLink About3 NarrativeOctober 1st 2009 Board of County Commissioners SUP under the MIR Process GV 82-5 pad Location REQUEST Special Use Permit under the Major Impact Review Process of the Unified Land Use Resolution of 2008 PROJECT Well Pad GV 82-5 APPLICANT Williams Production RMT Company (Williams) LOCATION Battlement Mesa Planned Unit Development Parcel # 2407-081-00-152 SE 1/4 Section 5, Township 7 South, Range 95 West of the 6th P.M. Garfield County, Colorado EXISITING ZONING Planned Unit Development (PUD) pursuant to Resolution 82-121 DESCRIPTION Williams Production RMT Company (as mineral lessee) and Battlement Mesa Land Investments (as surface owner) has filed for Special Use Permit under the Major Impact Review Process for Extraction and Processing of Natural Resources for the well pad GV 82-5, on lands located within the Battlement Mesa PUD Boundary. The PUD zoning requires a Special Use Permit for Extraction and Processing of Natural Resources. HISTORY Development on the GV 82-5 location began 19 years ago in the early 1990's with the planning process. Once all plans of development were agreed on by both surface owner and operator, a Surface Use Agreement by and between Battlement Mesa Partners & Battlement Mesa Realty DTC (Surface Owners) and Barrett Resources (predecessor to Williams) (Operator) dated August 6, 1990 & recorded with Garfield County at Reception #548481. (See Exhibit 4.1) This agreement conveys to the operator all acreage owned by the Surface Owner within the PUD the right to develop, produce and access the GV 82-5 location. The GV 82-5 pad is approximately 200 feet x 300 feet during drilling. (See Exhibit 3.3.6) The pad is ideally located to prevent disturbance of Battlement Mesa. The access road to the wellpad was an existing access through an adjacent landowner and has been in use. This access has been upgraded and maintained by Williams (at a cost of $50,000), so that drilling traffic would not utilize the Battlement Mesa subdivision roads. Williams also improved County Road 309 at a cost of 2.5 million dollars. After drilling and completion operations are completed, Williams shall commence interim reclamation and the pad shall be reduced to approximately3/4 acre during production operations. The GV 82-5 pad is located alongside the Colorado river, below a ridge. At the top of the ridge is the Battlement Mesa golf course. Thus the location is not in close proximity to any residences, and it is virtually unseen, even from the golf course. The location also helps minimize any noise issues. Additional information on the wellpad is set forth below: October 1st 2009 Board of County Commissioners SUP under the MIR Process GV 82-5 pad Location GV 82-5 pad August 6, 1990. Surface Use Agreement by and between Battlement Mesa Partners & Battlement Mesa Realty DTC (Surface Owners) and Barrett Resources (predecessor to Williams) dated August 6, 1990 & recorded @ #548481. This SUA covered all the acreage owned by Surface Owners in T7S-R95W and T7S-R96W. November 12, 1990. 15t visit —1 Mesa Verde well — the permit was submitted to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on October 18, 1990; approved October 31, 1990 and spud on November 12, 1990. November 28, 1994. 2nd visit- W15-5 Wasatch well — permit was submitted to the COGCC on July 1, 1994, approved on October 14, 1994 and spud on November 28, 1994 @ TD was reached on 12/15/94 & ready to produce 12/15/95. October 16, 2007. An updated SUA was prepared per Surface Owner's request that addressed pad location, number of wells drilled and time frame of development. This agreement was signed on October 16, 2007 by Surface Owner. Memo of SUA was recorded at #736468 on October 31, 2007. First Amendment dated November 25, 2008, and letter agreement dated March 24, 2009. February 13, 2008. 3rd visit — 4 wells were drilled. The permits were submitted on October 22, 2007 to COGCC and Garfield County. The permits were approved November 18, 2008. The 30 day notice letter was sent October 22, 2007 to Surface Owner and Garfield County. PA 24-5 well was spud on Feb 13, 2008 PA 424-5 well was spud on March 2, 2008 PA 433-5 well was spud on Jan 27, 2008 PA 434-5 well was spud on March 21, 2008 August, 2009. 4th visit (planned) to drill the 16 remaining permitted wells. The permits were submitted on December 3, 2008 to COGCC and Garfield County and were approved on February 13, 2009. The permits expire on February 12, 2010. The 30 day notice letter was sent December 8, 2008 to the Surface Owner and Garfield County. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT Developing an area for extraction of natural resources involves a great amount of technology and planning to complete. Williams use of modern oil and gas technology has allowed it to become more efficient while disturbing less surface area and reducing overall traffic. Williams has developed modern high efficiency rigs ("E -Rigs") that utilize electric top drive motors in combination with diesel electric generators for a much faster, quieter and efficient drilling operation. (See exhibits 3.3.1 thru 3.3.3) Due to their innovative design, these E -Rigs allow Williams to drill more wells from one surface location. These latest generation rigs combined with remote completions operations allow for greater flexibility, overall less impact to the community. In addition, Williams will be conducting drilling and completion operations at the same time, so that will limit the amount of time to develop this wellpad. Williams has 6 producing wells on the GV 82-5 and drilling operations have commenced to finalize the remaining 16 bottom hole locations from this pad. The COGCC permits were submitted on December 3, 2008 to COGCC and Garfield County and were approved on February 13, 2009. (See Exhibit 3.4.1) Due to contractual obligations; Williams will complete drilling operations by March 15Y, 2010. The rigs operate on a 24 hour a day 7 day a week schedule until the planned development is complete. Traffic volume associated with this type of development is greatly reduced by the temporary surface lines that carry water to the location.(See Exhibit 3.3.4 and 3.3.9) Also, Williams takes great consideration of the busing schedules and the impacts of October 1st 2009 Board of County Commissioners SUP under the MIR Process GV 82-5 pad Location development during the school year. (See Exhibit 3.3.5) By maintaining constant communication with the Transportation Director from the local school district; Williams is able to plan higher traffic needs around the busing schedules and inclement weather. Environmentally, Williams is very proactive in protecting wildlife and natural topography of the area. Included are copies of the procedures and protocols that demonstrate the commitments in which Williams operates. (See Exhibits 3.3.11 thru 3.3.16) Once the wells are producing, there will only be light duty truck traffic to the location with the occasional need for a service rig to perform more in depth maintenance. These service rigs are typically required on average every 2-3 years, generally perform all work needed to a well within 1-5 days and are much smaller and quieter than a standard drilling rig. With advances in well automation and communication, there is less need for traffic or service of these wells. All production facilities are located on the South West side of the location and consist of tank storage, production equipment and separators. (See Exhibit 3.3.7) NOTIFICATION To facilitate communications with local landowners about the development and current permitting process, Williams has met and presented the historical recap and maps of the GV 82-5 and PA 41-9 locations with the following groups; Parachute/Battlement Mesa Chamber of Commerce — September 1st Kiwanis Club- September 1St Battlement Mesa Service Association- September 15th Battlement Mesa Oil and Gas Commission — The Reserve & Battlement Creek Village Associations- September 22nd This will also be followed by the notifications that will be sent out to the almost 1700 surface owners per the SUP process.