A meeting set up to discuss issues surrounding the possibility of Bearspaw Energy drilling three directional wells from a site near McMullen Island has been postponed, pending a meeting with the Town of Drumheller.
This is according to Jim Decore, a Nacmine resident who has objected to the development.
Decore told The Mail he was informed by a phone call from the Energy Resource Conservation Board (ERCB) Monday morning a meeting scheduled for January 18 at the Nacmine Hall for an Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process with an ERCB field facilitator present was postponed. He said it was to allow Bearspaw to meet with town council to address its concerns.
He said recent stories in the media might have contributed to the change.
Most recently, inSide Drumheller reported in its January 6 edition that members of Drumheller Town Council expressed their concerns with the project at its regular Town council meeting. They are in the process of drafting a formal letter to express the position of the Town.
“The Municipal Government Act allows them to drill, they don’t need our permission,” said Mayor Terry Yemen in the January 6 report, “so we are going by our bylaws and saying we strongly discourage the drilling of wells in the valley.”
Decore says the change is a good sign and it shows the company recognizes how big this issue is to residents of Drumheller.
“They are realizing it involves more than a few resident across the river, it’s all of Drumheller,” said Decore.
Bearspaw Petroleum has not yet applied to drill in the area but has sent out information to potentially affected residents.
According to its notice to residents, the project was slated to start sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. Drilling completion and testing of wells would take place within 2-4 months. Following the completions and testing, the wells may be tied in, and that would be a separate time line.
