EnCana wins approval to house nearly 750 workers at well pads in GarCo

EnCana USA has won Garfield County approval to operate up to 31 temporary facilities housing nearly 750 natural gas development workers north of Parachute.

Each of the facilities, known informally as man camps, is allowed to hold up to 24 employees and contractors. None would be operated more than one year under the county permits.

Energy companies have used temporary housing facilities under the permission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, but the county learned it had authority to regulate them and instituted its permitting process last November.

Parachute Mayor Roy McClung wrote to the county that while the onsite housing will help, the town still will see traffic impacts related to EnCana's drilling plans and is worried about overloaded intersections and the lack of funding to improve them.

He suggested in the letter that the county needs to be collecting impact fees from such developments to meet highway improvement needs.

Read Dennis Webb's full article . . .

Garco bicyclists to find smooth sailing

To the joy (and relief) of bicyclists, Garco Commissioners decided spend extra funds to use smaller-diameter gravel on chip seal projects for six county roads that cyclists frequently use.

The Garfield County commissioners also said they will consider spending extra taxpayer dollars on some road projects this summer to accommodate cyclists.

Garfield County budgeted $1.1 million this summer for routine maintenance of some of its road network. The roads in roughest shape will receive a new chip seal surface, with the 3/4-inch gravel.

At Commissioner Tresi Houpt's suggestion, the county got a second bid on topping the 3/4-inch gravel with a 3/8-inch mixture. The bid came in at $652,000 for all the projects.

Houpt supported spending that amount and topping all roads scheduled for work this summer with the smoother surface.

Read Scott Condon's full article . . .