Coalbed methane development has been a major part of the county economy for more than 25 years, but the county's 2001 comprehensive plan had only a half page about resource extraction.
County planning commissioners and plannng staff started on that section of the ongoing comp plan update on Aug. 6. Planning commission chair Jim Tencza held up the half page in the old plan.
"We went from nothing to something," planning staffer Jason Meininger said. "There's the overview and background." They haven't gotten to goals, objectives, and policies yet.
The overview lists gas and oil, also sand, gravel, coal, gold, and silver. It says, "As a result of La Plata County's expanding rural population, increasing conflicts have occurred between the private rural population and extractive industries. The challenge is to find a balance between accommodating extractive resource development with an increasing population, and to develop ways for mitigating potential conflicts between extractive resource development activities and other land uses."
It reports 3,288 active gas or oil wells in the county, with 2,019 of them on private land. It lists 39 waste water injection wells, 22 on private surface land. There are also compressor stations and processing plants, gathering lines and pipelines for gas and water.
From 2000 through 2014, oil and gas facilities have accounted for about half of county property tax revenue, and total property tax revenue has gone up and down with oil and gas. The highest years for oil and gas tax revenue were 2006 and 2009, around $17 million each of those years. The county also gets state severance tax and federal mineral leasing payments.
As of 2012, the county was the nation's 10th largest natural gas producer, the report says. The county regulates surface impacts on private surface land in unincorporated parts of the county through chapter 90 of its land use code. The county does not regulate Southern Ute oil and gas operations within the reservation.
But the report says, "In situations where a well is located on private surface and developing tribal minerals, unless the operator represents the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the county is the main regulatory authority over surface disturbance."
The overview also discusses the county's coal mining history, sand and gravel, limestone, and hardrock mining, mainly in La Plata Canyon.
Hesperus area resident J.T. Coyne objected that the county's oil and gas regulations, such as impacts from industry trucks, don't carry over to coal. The King Coal Mine "is no longer a small mom-and-pop operation. It's an industrial complex," he said. "Those of us who live with it find it frustrating that there's no way to deal with the changes in our lifestyle."
Tencza asked, "How do we be fair with citizen concerns and a business that started operating without those regulations?"
Coyne responded, "The county should have dealt with it when they first applied for the permit. Don't let them grow so big that it ruins the quality of life for everyone out there." He cited noise, traffic, and dust, and said the company just applied to expand the operation.
The extractive resources section also delves into alternative and renewable energy. Each of those has its own drawbacks as well as benefits, the overview says.
It lists La Plata Electric Association's efforts to expand its share of power from sustainable sources, either through local grid-tied generation or renewable power purchased from wholesale supplier Tri-State. That includes solar photovoltiac panels on individual homes and businesses, and four community solar gardens, hydro power, a waste heat recovery system at a natural gas treatment plant, a methane turbine at the Durango sewage treatment plant, and a micro turbine in the Pine River Valley fueled by captured methane from the Fruitland formation outcrop.
It lists biomass generation from local fuel reduction projects as a possibility, but with limited potential for commercial development. Hot springs in the county are not considered hot enough to be a viable option for generating electricity, the overview says.
Planning staffer Brenna Kampf said the county is not a good area for wind generation. Planning commissioner Lucy Baizel countered that she has a wind turbine at her house. "What can the county do to encourage that?" she asked.
"Or not discourage," Tencza said.
"Try to capture the potential of all these things," commissioner Debby Reber said. Commissioner Charly Minkler agreed.
The extractive resources section will be considered again on Sept. 3 following updates posted on the county website at http://co.laplata.co.us/departments_and_elected_officials/planning/comprehensive_plan. There also is a link on the site to submit comments.
Comp plan meetings are the first Thursday each month from 6 to 8 p.m. in the new county administration building, 1101 E. Second Ave. in Durango.
So far the updated plan has an introduction and sections on growth trends, agriculture, and infrastructure. None have been formally approved by planning commissioners and certified to the Board of County Commissioners for feedback.
