May 28, 2009 04:15 PM UTC

ExxonMobile to W.CO Residents: We're Baaack!

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• by: ClubTwitty

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

During the 1970s, as the United States experienced a particularly difficult “energy crisis” and the federal government offered billions of dollars in subsidies for oil shale development, the oft-repeated Boom-and-Bust cycle played out.

The rush really hit head on in 1980, when–fueled by these federal subsidies–Exxon began to pour millions into developing its Colony project.  Other large multi-national energy companies soon followed, and the “boom” was on.  

That was also the year that Exxon released its now infamous “White Paper” outlining plans for production of 1 million barrels of oil a day by the early 21rst century.    

The towns and cities of  the Western Slope responded, upgrading infrastructure, building housing, and realigning their economies for what they were told were their futures. Exxon built the Battlement Mesa subdivision, south of Parachute, to house oil shale workers.  

But when Colony workers showed up on Sunday, May 2, 1982 they were met by armed guards blocking their entrance. The inevitable bust had come. Thousands of people fled western Colorado.  

When Exxon pulled out of its Colony oil shale project in Western Colorado in 1982 it left “an impact crater that spread from the Western Slope to the skyscraper canyons of downtown Denver,” according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News from the 1990s.  

Exxon sold its employee housing development to the Battlement Mesa Company, which advertised it as the perfect retirement community.  But Exxon quietly retained the mineral rights, and in the now empty streets of Western Colorado few noticed or cared because only minimal drilling was occurring in the area.  

In the late 1990’s new drilling technologies allowed companies to economically develop the ‘tight sand’ gases that underlie the region, and the boom-and-bust cycle began anew.

Forward to 2009 when, in spite of the dire moans of industry shills, companies remain active in the area and are planning their next line of attack projects.  Square in their sites: Battlement Mesa, that ‘perfect’ retirement community.

The GJ Sentinel is reporting today:

BATTLEMENT MESA – Around 400 people crowded a gym Wednesday night to hear Antero Resources lay out plans to begin drilling for natural gas later this year within Garfield County’s Battlement Mesa development.

The Denver-based company eventually may drill up to 200 wells from 10 pads within the 5,500-person subdivision. Antero and developer Battlement Mesa Co. announced the drilling plans Wednesday.

“Everyone has been caught off guard by this. Very few people seem to know anything about it,” resident Carol Morton said in an interview.

“It occurs to me that the Battlement Mesa Co. has sold out the community…” resident Dave Devanney said before being drowned out by applause during Wednesday’s meeting.

With increasing problems from water contamination, regular mishaps like crashing trucks, toxic spills, well fires, and other calamities, it’s understandable that residents are worried.  ‘Trust us,’ the drillers say.

The Sentinel article continues.

ExxonMobil is the primary mineral rights owner in the subdivision.

Exxon originally designed the development to house workers for its Parachute oil shale project, which it ended in 1982. When Battlement Mesa Co. bought the development in 1989, it reached a surface use agreement with Exxon for oil and gas development.

…Drilling in subdivisions is unusual in rural western Colorado. But drilling operations can be found in towns across the country, said Kevin Kilstrom, Antero’s vice president of production.

In all fairness, Antero has earned kudos from neighboring communities for their efforts to work with surface owners and residents.  But the lesson here–‘Buyer Beware’–does not just apply to home buyers.  All of Colorado must carefully consider what future we want as the mini-bust we are now in fades away and the drill rigs, and Texans, return.