An energy boom in Silt, Colo., for better and worse

SILT, COLO.

“The sight, sound, noise, and odor pollution will last for 20 to 40 years,” says Mrs. Moore. “When we moved from Mead [Colo.] to here we got more land and we thought we’d sell this place later and retire…. How are we going to sell the place with no water?”

Unlike some buyers, the Moores knew when they bought their 37 acres in 1993 that they didn’t own the mineral rights – a common situation in the West known as a “split estate.” But no one had drilled gas for years.

Now, nearly 3,000 wells are operating in Garfield County, most of them drilled in the past six years, with thousands more planned. And opposition is building among an unlikely coalition of environmentalists, conservative property-rights advocates, ranchers, county commissioners, and mayors. It’s a sign that the West no longer embraces energy booms the way it used to.

Christian Science Monitor