Palisade residents invited to watershed drilling meeting

Palisade residents have a final opportunity to suggest how to manage drilling in the watershed above Palisade by Genesis Gas and Oil.

A meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Palisade Community Center in Palisade Park, 120 W. Eighth St., for the public to suggest the best ways to drill on Bureau of Land Management lands in the watershed.

The meeting is not to discuss whether drilling should occur in the watershed.

“They (the BLM) have chosen to lease those properties,” said Tim Sarmo, Palisade’s town administrator. “What we are talking about now is what is the best way to protect those properties if and when drilling occurs.”

At this point, the plan is only a draft. It was prepared by stakeholders, including the town, Grand Junction, Genesis Gas and Oil, the BLM and private property owners.

Public input is invited and encouraged, Sarmo said.

“If we miss something, we would like to hear about it,” Sarmo said. “Now is the chance to get those things incorporated into the plan.”

When complete, the plan “will be the model the BLM will use for handing out permits to drill,” Sarmo said.

The Palisade Board of Trustees is expected to take final action on the plan before fall, Sarmo said.

• Residents of Collbran are invited to attend a meeting from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Collbran Town Hall, 1010 High St., to begin drafting a Plateau Valley water protection plan.

All three Mesa County Commissioners are scheduled to attend, as are representatives from Powderhorn and Mesa water districts. The town of Collbran and the two water districts are joining forces to draft a “source water protection plan,” said Colleen Williams, from the Colorado Rural Water Association.

“We assist small communities with developing source-water protection plans for their drinking-water plans,” she said. “Public water systems provide the drinking water to their communities, and it is a whole lot more expensive to treat water that has been contaminated than to treat water that has not been contaminated.”

Source : www.gjsentinel.com