Located in southwestern Colorado, the San Juan National Forest encompasses 2 million acres of wilderness and wildlife habitat and is considered the wildest region of the Southern Rockies. In the southern foothills of the national forest is the HD Mountains Roadless Area (HDs), named after an old cattle brand. The area, which features 40,000 acres of ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, has never experienced significant commercial or industrial development and is among the last few sections of the San Juan Basin not already drilled for gas and oil.

The HD Mountains boast pristine canyons and undeveloped low-elevation forests, an ecosystem rare in this region. Many of the largest remaining stands of old-growth ponderosa pine in the southern Rocky Mountains are found here, providing prime wildlife habitat for large mule deer and elk herds, wild turkey, black bear, northern goshawks, and migratory songbirds. The HDs also encompass many hundreds of 1,000-year-old archeological sites once occupied by pre-Puebloan peoples and provide tremendous recreational opportunities for local residents, backpackers, horseback riders, and hunters.

The HD Mountains today are the subject of an industrial development proposal that calls for the construction of hundreds of coalbed methane wells and associated roads, pipelines, and powerlines that would forever change the appearance, recreational opportunities, and wildlife of the mountain range. Although the rugged and forbidding terrain of the HDs previously protected them from exploitation, the San Juan National Forest now is analyzing an industry request for 297 gas wells in the area. Parts of the HD Mountains were leased in 1970s and 1980s, long before coalbed methane extraction was invented. The most recent leases were issued in 2001, after the issuance of the 2001 National Forest Roadless Rule, which bars any new road building to develop new oil and gas leases. These leases contain “no surface occupancy” provisions that should prevent new road construction, if these provisions are honored.

In June 2004, the Forest Service announced plans to turn the HDs into a massive industrial gas field, and the San Juan National Forest undertook a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to analyze and describe the impacts of the Northern San Juan Basin Coalbed Methane Project.

Within the draft plan, the Forest Service’s preferred alternative authorized drilling 79 well pads and 36 miles of roads through the HD Mountains Roadless Area. It also waived existing environmental and safety protections that prohibit drilling on the Fruitland Formation outcrop, a geologic formation from which numerous local residents draw their drinking water. The plan also lacks stipulations that ban surface occupancy on thousands of acres.

In response, more than 70,000 concerned individuals submitted comments opposing the project, and especially its large-scale drilling proposals. Five local governments unanimously passed resolutions favoring protection for the roadless area and prohibition of drilling on the Fruitland Formation outcrop. Although some of the proposed coalbed methane leases could have limitations preventing road and well pad construction in the roadless areas (a method known as No Surface Occupancy, or NSO), the Forest Service could simply remove these limitations at the lease-holder’s request. In fact, the Forest Service and BLM are proposing to remove such limits that currently protect the HD Mountains in the San Juan National Forest as part of their upcoming revision of the forest management plan.

The fate of the HD Mountains Roadless Area awaits one last energy development decision by the San Juan National Forest: the adoption of the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released in August 2006. Based on the tidal wave of public opinion, the Forest Service has reduced the number of authorized wells inside the roadless area from 79 to 30. However, the agency still plans to waive existing stipulations that prohibit surface occupancy and disturbance in the roadless area. The Forest Service also intends to approve almost 50 wells along the Fruitland Formation outcrop, inviting potential methane contamination of up to 60 nearby residences and 40 domestic drinking water wells.

Although the final outcome of this planning process remains uncertain, the risk is clear. If the Forest Service approves drilling in the area, the new gas wells would require dozens of miles of new roads cut along the steep slopes and precipitous ridges; massive destruction would result from the bulldozing and blading of roads and construction of pipelines and well pads and would effectively obliterate the remarkable values of the HDs.

A consortium proposes to build about 150 gas wells, 10 gas compressor stations, and 60 milesof access roads throughout the largest areas of roadless, old-growth forest in the HD Mountains Roadless Area.

Industry’s proposal to exhaustively drill the HD Mountains threatens the area’s history, ecology, and recreational use. A consortium – which is led by BP Amoco and includes Petrox, Exok, and Elm Ridge – proposes to build about 150 gas wells, 10 gas compressor stations, and 60 miles of access roads throughout the largest areas of roadless, old-growth forest in the HD Mountains Roadless Area. The proposal would crisscross the entire east side of the HD Mountains with wells, pads, compressors, and pipelines. The industrial development activities would bring noise pollution, additional lights, water and oil spills, forest fires, and other significant impacts to an area that is essentially wilderness.

Industry previously eyed the HDs for coalbed methane drilling in the late 1980’s when Amoco Production Company proposed to drill 33 coalbed methane gas wells in the area. The Forest Service approved approximately 28 wells, but only five were actually drilled in the early 1990’s -- all in areas of the HD Mountains where roads already existed in the Saul’s Creek and Spring Creek drainages. The main roadless areas of the HD Mountains remain undeveloped.

Furthermore, coalbed methane drilling within the HDs and on the Fruitland Formation outcrop will destroy the domestic water wells of numerous local residents and dry up area springs because of vast water table drawdowns, and even potentially endanger residents’ lives because of increased methane seepage infiltrating area homes. The Forest Service plan irresponsibly gambles with peoples’ homes, property, and lives.

There are approximately 20,000 producing gas wells in the entire San Juan Basin within southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, with another 15,000 wells in the works. The HD Mountains Roadless Area represents a tiny component of the overall basin, and the 100 or so wells being debated for this area are just a fraction of the gas development already occurring across this larger region.

The oil and gas industry already has extensive access to public lands within the San Juan Basin and across Colorado for oil and gas development. As of 2004, the oil and gas industry has leased more than 3.4 million acres of federal lands in the state for oil and gas development, but has produced resources on less than 40 percent of those acres. Drilling in the HDs – the last, largest, low-elevation roadless area in the San Juan Mountains – would be a needless and senseless sacrifice.

The Wilderness Society, San Juan Citizens Alliance, and their partners believe this area should ultimately be designated by Congress as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The area’s rare old-growth ponderosa pine forests, low-elevation winter wildlife habitat, unique archeological values, and primitive recreational opportunities make the HD Mountains an outstanding candidate for wilderness protection.

In the interim, however, preventing the adoption of the pending drilling proposal and securing sound management decisions in the upcoming forest management plan to protect the natural beauty and ecological integrity of the HDs is essential. Continued implementation of the 2001 Roadless Rule’s prohibition on new road building is also important.

Mark Pearson, San Juan Citizens Alliance, 970/259-3583
Suzanne Jones, The Wilderness Society, 303/650-5818, ext. 102

Web site: www.savehdmountains.org