{"id":116411,"date":"2014-11-20T20:38:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T03:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kinder-morgan-permits-approved\/"},"modified":"2014-11-20T20:38:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T03:38:15","slug":"kinder-morgan-permits-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kinder-morgan-permits-approved\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinder Morgan permits approved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jim
Jim Mimiaga\/Cortez Journal<br><br>Landowner Trent Rupe points out where he plans to build a cabin, the same location Kinder Morgan wants to install a pipeline. Officials negotiated relocating the pipeline to avoid that area.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Montezuma County Commission on Monday approved six high-impact permits for major Kinder Morgan expansion of CO2 production west of Pleasant View.<\/p>\n

The permits include three CO2 wells, water discharge pipelines, CO2 pipelines, and a booster pump station.<\/p>\n

The permits are the latest for a $350 million project by Kinder Morgan to expand into the Cow Canyon field, where it leases federal minerals under private land.<\/p>\n

The build-out to meet CO2 demand includes 14 new wells, 30 miles of pipelines, power lines and pumping plants.<\/p>\n

Kinder Morgan negotiates surface-use-agreements (SUA) with landowners that typically include cash, land improvements, and reclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working hard to make sure we address everyone\u2019s concerns and evaluate all options,\u201d said Jamie Conway, a Kinder Morgan engineer.<\/p>\n

\u2018One thousand cuts\u2019<\/p>\n

Permits for the company haven\u2019t all come easily. But county oversight is limited because of Kinder Morgan\u2019s right to minerals under private land.<\/p>\n

In October, county conditions for a power-line plan triggered a Kinder Morgan lawsuit against the county.<\/p>\n

And farmers have offered stiff resistance.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s hearings attracted 40 farmers and landowners. During the three-hour, at times contentious meeting, they expressed concerns about the expansion\u2019s impacts on agriculture, health and property values.<\/p>\n

Kinder Morgan representatives Phil Kennedy, Jamie Conway, and Eric Swanson presented the permit requests and responded to complaints and questions.<\/p>\n

Trent Rupe\u2019s land is being used for a buried pipeline to move brine water produced from drilling to a disposal well. Language in the agreement bans \u201croadways\u201d across the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand no permanent structures, but I should be able to have a driveway across a buried pipeline to a hay barn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kinder Morgan said it would fix the language and would examine re-routing a discharge pipeline to avoid a wooded canyon Rupe plans to build a hunting cabin on.<\/p>\n

The produced-water pipeline and a proposed power line cuts through Jim Farrier\u2019s land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe area is becoming a chokepoint for pipelines, powerlines, and irrigation,\u201d he said. \u201cCommercial agriculture here is a huge part of the economy. My fear is that agriculture will die from 1,000 cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Distrust of dealmakers<\/p>\n

Farmers said they\u2019ve had difficulty with Kinder Morgan dealmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m visited by a (Kinder Morgan) rep and say \u2018I\u2019m too busy right now,\u2019 I expect them to say \u2018when is a good time,\u2019 not \u2018we can condemn your land,\u2019\u201d said Destri Daves.<\/p>\n

In Daves\u2019 case, a pumping plant was relocated to avoid a home, but ended up in his viewshed and takes away farmland.<\/p>\n

Since local negotiator Bob Clayton left the company, Kinder Morgan has struggled to find someone people trust.<\/p>\n

It leads to distrust when one person receives $22,000 for a well site, and another receives $35,000. It was explained that pipeline compensation is based on length, paying out $25 for every ROD, or 16.5 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cKinder Morgan uses aggressive language in negotiations for it\u2019s surface-use agreements,\u201d Farrier said. \u201cThose without legal counsel are vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

A plan for a well on a boundary of two properties enraged landowner Karl Loof.<\/p>\n

He said the pad would alter drainage and threaten crops with flooding.<\/p>\n

The well was approved.<\/p>\n

Kinder Morgan may back off a plan to install 10 miles of private power lines across farmland and along Country Road 10.<\/p>\n

The project triggered a lawsuit against the county by Kinder Morgan,which asserts that conditions that favor landowners are illegal.<\/p>\n

Scott Emke, of Empire Electric, said Kinder Morgan would revisit contracting with the utility to provide power on existing lines, rather than build one.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmers upset about industry invasion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[281,876,13,622],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-116411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-agriculture","tag-energy-resources","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-kinder-morgan"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116411"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=116411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}