Marty Durlin

Online Editor

How can a Canadian company drill 14,000-foot natural gas test wells in a 92,000-acre wildlife refuge? That’s the question angry San Luis Valley residents in Colorado are asking, according to an article in The Denver Post.

The Baca Wildlife Refuge, consisting of wetlands, sagebrush, sand dunes, forests, irrigated and riparian land, was recently purchased by taxpayers for $33 million to protect groundwater, habitats and migratory birds.

“There’s a very strong sentiment of wanting to declare this area a no-drill zone,” said Aurielle Andhara, executive director of the San Luis Valley Citizens Alliance. “We are looking at the devastation of one of the last pristine areas in our state.”

The Canadian Company, Lexam Energy Exploration, owns 100 percent of the mineral rights on the land, and wants to drill three wells about five miles southeast of Crestone.

“You and I cannot take a hike on the refuge because it would be considered too risky to the surface of the refuge because there is not a comprehensive management plan in place,” Andhara said. “But a company can come in and cut roads, put up 120-foot rigs, bring several hundred-thousand-pound tankers back and forth and back and forth, diesel engines, evaporation pits, and put 10-acre well pads on wetlands.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release a draft environmental assessment in the next two weeks, determining whether Lexam can move forward with plans to drill or whether a comprehensive Environmental Impact Study is needed.

U.S. Rep. John Salazar wrote a letter Dec. 7 to U.S. Fish and Wildlife saying the agency has a “duty and responsibility to take every possible measure to protect these lands.”