Post on 11-May-2019
Whitewater Unit General Location
Mesa and Delta Counties,
Colorado
The Whitewater Unit is
located approximately 15
miles south of the City of
Grand Junction
NEPA process
Present purpose
and need
BLM must respond
to operator’s plan to
develop lease
Put initial project
plan out for scoping
– up to discretion of
field office
GJFO decided:
Public meeting
Letters to interested
parties (people who
commented on first
project
Local municipalities,
CPW, etc
Whitewater Project Area
Surface/Mineral
Ownership
– Fed/Fed 72.38%
– Pri/Pri 12.63%
– GJ/GJ 7.96%
– Pri/Fed 6.62%
– Fed/Pri 0.41%
Existing Oil and Gas Development
20 Existing well pads*
– 6 on federal lands
– 14 on private lands
Fram drilled wells*
– 2 wells in 2009
– 5 wells in 2010
– 5 wells in 2011
Current production*
– Approximately 30 barrels of
oil per day
*Source: Fram Americas MDP and Personal
Communication
Proposed Action
Year 1
– 4 Proposed Well Pads
– All federal/federal
Year 2
– 8 Proposed Well Pads
– 7 on federal/federal
– 1 on private/federal
Up to 108 Wells
Proposed Action – Well Pad Disturbance
Dimension: 300 ft x 300 ft
Area: 3.5 acres each (drilling)
0.8 acre each (production)
Total temporary disturbance –
42.0 acres
Total long-term disturbance –
9.6 acres
Proposed Action – Roads and Pipelines
Greater than 92 percent of proposed roads are existing
Use of County Road (collector)
Upgrade existing two-track roads (local and resource roads)
Oil/Water gathering lines adjacent to roads
Fram MDP Design Features
Closed Loop Drilling
Systems
Water Gathering System
Remote Telemetry
Stormwater BMPs
Gold Book Standards
Green Completions
Combustion Unit
Water Resources
Grand Junction Watershed
54,548 total acres
Watershed/Whitewater Unit
– 3,259 acres
– 6 percent of Watershed
in Whitewater Unit
– One existing well pad
– No proposed well pads
T&E and Sensitive Species
Potential T&E Species
– Canada Lynx
– Endangered Colorado River Fish
– Greenback Cutthroat Trout
– Colorado Hookless Cactus*
– DeBeque Phacelia
BLM Sensitive Species
– Kit Fox and White-tailed Prairie
Dog Overall Ranges
– Prairie Dog Colonies*
– Burrowing Owl Nest*
– Golden Eagle Active Nest Sites
* Documented within the Project Area
Surveys 2010-2011
– Identified and Mapped
Species
– Located Raptor Nests and
Habitat
– Documented Invasive and
Non-native Plant Species
– Identified Waters of the U.S.
and Wetlands
– Documented Birds of
Conservation Concern
– Characterized
Vegetation/Habitat
Wildlife – Big Game Ranges *
Mule Deer Critical Winter Range
– 8,511 acres
– 9 existing pads/1 proposed pad
Elk Winter Concentration Area
– 10,667 acres
– 0 existing pads/1 proposed pad
Pronghorn Winter Concentration Area
– 2,231 acres
– 0 existing pads/0 proposed pad
All ranges combined
– 19,745 acres
– 9 existing pads/2 new pads
* COGCC rules
Visual Resources
VRM Class II– 1,761 acres
– No existing well pads
– No proposed well pads
VRM Class III– 18,962 acres– 6 proposed well pads
(6 federal surface)
– 12 existing well pads(6 federal/6 private)
Special Management Areas
SMAs Near Whitewater Unit
Adobe Badlands WSA
Dominguez-Escalante
Natural Conservation Area
Dominguez Canyon
Wilderness
• Received over 300 pages of comments
• EA is in the analysis stage
• Substantive comments will be addressed or incorporated
into the proposed action
• Examples of issues raised which will be incorporated
into the proposed action:
listed cactus – all disturbance will be outside of 20m buffer
CPW concerns
watershed
City of Grand Junction
Comprehensive comments received from
Grand Junction regarding watershed issues
FRAM has committed to incorporating BMPs
identified developed through collaborative
effort by stakeholders
Watershed Plan for the town of Palisade
and the City of Grand Junction
August 2007
back to NEPA
The “residual” effects to various resources
will be analyzed in the EA
(Effects remaining after mitigation is included)