Colo. regulators hash out gas-well water rights

Water regulators are close to solving a fight between gas drillers and ranchers, who say coalbed methane wells are draining their water rights. State Engineer Dick Wolfe held hearings last week to develop a computer model that will tell him which gas wells need extra attention. The hearings will conclude Dec. 16 with a discussion of wells in the San Juan Basin. The dispute started in 2005, when two Southwest Colorado ranching families, William and Elizabeth Vance and James and Mary Fitzgerald, sued the state, claiming nearby gas wells had siphoned water from their springs. In April, the state Supreme Court ruled for the couples, which opened up the possibility that every gas and oil well in the state would have to get a water well permit and submit to regulation by the state engineer. The Legislature acted quickly to direct Wolfe's office to limit the number of gas wells that would need regulation. Energy companies have argued that most gas wells are much deeper than the water table, so they should be excluded as “nontributary" water. Wolfe conducted hearings last week on technical issues around a computer model his staff will use. Sarah Klahn, lawyer for the Vance and Fitzgerald families, wants the model to be tweaked, especially for the edges of gas fields, where the gas formations outcrop and come close to the underground water that feeds streams...read more