Whitewater Unit Oil Exploration and Development Project EA

Whitewater Unit General Location

Mesa and Delta Counties,

Colorado

The Whitewater Unit is

located approximately 15

miles south of the City of

Grand Junction

NEPA process

Present purpose

and need

BLM must respond

to operator’s plan to

develop lease

Put initial project

plan out for scoping

– up to discretion of

field office

GJFO decided:

Public meeting

Letters to interested

parties (people who

commented on first

project

Local municipalities,

CPW, etc

Whitewater Project Area

Surface/Mineral

Ownership

– Fed/Fed 72.38%

– Pri/Pri 12.63%

– GJ/GJ 7.96%

– Pri/Fed 6.62%

– Fed/Pri 0.41%

Existing Oil and Gas Development

20 Existing well pads*

– 6 on federal lands

– 14 on private lands

Fram drilled wells*

– 2 wells in 2009

– 5 wells in 2010

– 5 wells in 2011

Current production*

– Approximately 30 barrels of

oil per day

*Source: Fram Americas MDP and Personal

Communication

Proposed Action

Year 1

– 4 Proposed Well Pads

– All federal/federal

Year 2

– 8 Proposed Well Pads

– 7 on federal/federal

– 1 on private/federal

Up to 108 Wells

Proposed Action – Well Pad Disturbance

Dimension: 300 ft x 300 ft

Area: 3.5 acres each (drilling)

0.8 acre each (production)

Total temporary disturbance –

42.0 acres

Total long-term disturbance –

9.6 acres

Proposed Action – Roads and Pipelines

Greater than 92 percent of proposed roads are existing

Use of County Road (collector)

Upgrade existing two-track roads (local and resource roads)

Oil/Water gathering lines adjacent to roads

Fram MDP Design Features

Closed Loop Drilling

Systems

Water Gathering System

Remote Telemetry

Stormwater BMPs

Gold Book Standards

Green Completions

Combustion Unit

Water Resources

Grand Junction Watershed

54,548 total acres

Watershed/Whitewater Unit

– 3,259 acres

– 6 percent of Watershed

in Whitewater Unit

– One existing well pad

– No proposed well pads

T&E and Sensitive Species

Potential T&E Species

– Canada Lynx

– Endangered Colorado River Fish

– Greenback Cutthroat Trout

– Colorado Hookless Cactus*

– DeBeque Phacelia

BLM Sensitive Species

– Kit Fox and White-tailed Prairie

Dog Overall Ranges

– Prairie Dog Colonies*

– Burrowing Owl Nest*

– Golden Eagle Active Nest Sites

* Documented within the Project Area

Surveys 2010-2011

– Identified and Mapped

Species

– Located Raptor Nests and

Habitat

– Documented Invasive and

Non-native Plant Species

– Identified Waters of the U.S.

and Wetlands

– Documented Birds of

Conservation Concern

– Characterized

Vegetation/Habitat

Wildlife – Big Game Ranges *

Mule Deer Critical Winter Range

– 8,511 acres

– 9 existing pads/1 proposed pad

Elk Winter Concentration Area

– 10,667 acres

– 0 existing pads/1 proposed pad

Pronghorn Winter Concentration Area

– 2,231 acres

– 0 existing pads/0 proposed pad

All ranges combined

– 19,745 acres

– 9 existing pads/2 new pads

* COGCC rules

Visual Resources

VRM Class II– 1,761 acres

– No existing well pads

– No proposed well pads

VRM Class III– 18,962 acres– 6 proposed well pads

(6 federal surface)

– 12 existing well pads(6 federal/6 private)

Special Management Areas

SMAs Near Whitewater Unit

Adobe Badlands WSA

Dominguez-Escalante

Natural Conservation Area

Dominguez Canyon

Wilderness

• Received over 300 pages of comments

• EA is in the analysis stage

• Substantive comments will be addressed or incorporated

into the proposed action

• Examples of issues raised which will be incorporated

into the proposed action:

listed cactus – all disturbance will be outside of 20m buffer

CPW concerns

watershed

Colorado Parks and Wildlife – comments regarding big game winter range

City of Grand Junction

Comprehensive comments received from

Grand Junction regarding watershed issues

FRAM has committed to incorporating BMPs

identified developed through collaborative

effort by stakeholders

Watershed Plan for the town of Palisade

and the City of Grand Junction

August 2007

back to NEPA

The “residual” effects to various resources

will be analyzed in the EA

(Effects remaining after mitigation is included)

Fram Whitewater Unit

Tank Battery with

Combustion UnitDrill Cuttings Lined

Containment

Pumping Unit

Tank Battery with

Lined Containment