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CRAIG, Colo. (AP) -- Questar Corp. said it plans to drill 4,000 oil and gas wells in a 150,000-acre area along the Colorado-Wyoming border over the next 30 years.
Drilling could start as early as 2008, the Salt Lake City-based company said Wednesday.
About 60 percent of the drilling would take place in Wyoming, while the rest would be in northwestern Colorado, said Vincent Rigatti, Questar Market Resources general manager. The majority of the wells would pump natural gas.
He said most of the sites are on Bureau of Land Management property. He said the BLM could issue a final Environmental Impact Statement by June 2007 and give the company permission to drill in early 2008.
Rigatti said workers would be based in Rock Springs, Wyo., but Moffat County would also receive substantial tax revenue.
Rigatti said he has been discussing the plans with local officials and doesn't expect fierce opposition because drilling has taken place there since 1920s.
Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo., said Questar or any other company would encounter opposition if it sought to drill near two citizen-proposed wilderness areas.
"If the wells are placed in areas that are already currently drilled, that would make this a much less controversial project," he said.
Information from: Craig Daily Press, http://www.craigdailypress.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
