Big Lake neighbors riled by well drilling

February 10, 2006

DARRELL L. BREESE\Frontiersman reporter

BIG LAKE - Denver-based Storm Cat Energy has been making preparations in the Big Lake area to drill a conventional gas exploration well just off Horseshoe Lake Road, causing concern among several residents of the area.

Residents gathered at the Bud Beech Public Safety Building to share their concerns. Among the issues raised by the locals is a worry that this is another go-round with coal-bed methane.

Others wondered about the risks associated with increased traffic and the blockage of a popular trail system in the area.

&#8220The people just want to know what is going on,” Mat-Su Borough Assembly member Cindy Bettine said. &#8220Everything is happening so fast and they can't seem to get an answer as to what is happening. They are wondering what the secrecy is all about.”

Storm Cat Energy acquired extensive petroleum and natural gas leases in the Cook Inlet region and is preparing an exploratory well to determine if there is natural gas in the area.

&#8220This is an exploration lease we acquired in 2004,” Keith Knapstad, vice president of U.S. operations for Storm Cat, said Thursday. &#8220The well we are drilling will test the resource potential of the lease. The operation is being overseen and regulated by the Alaska Oil and Gas [Conservation] Commission.”

Knapstad went on to say the well was not an attempt to extract coal-bed methane.

&#8220We are in the coal-bed methane business,” Knapstad said, &#8220but not at this location. Our interest is solely for the natural gas.”

The quest for gas doesn't bother Wes Hamerick, who lives in the area. He is concerned about the blockage of trails caused by fencing put up around the site.

&#8220I'm not opposed to drilling for gas,” Hamerick said. &#8220Bring it on! I'm on oil and would welcome natural gas to the area.”

According to Hamerick, the site is blocking the intersection of Trail No. 1 and No. 2 of the multi-use trail network around the area lakes.

&#8220I helped build the trails back in 1991 with the help of a borough grant,” Hamerick said. &#8220They have been in use for years and would hope that some alternate route would be allowed around the fencing.

&#8220Winter recreation is a vital part of the local economy and disrupting it for a test well doesn't make sense,” Hamerick said.

Bettine wondered why the borough code that addresses coal-bed methane exploration doesn't also apply to the gas well.

&#8220The coal-bed methane ordinance addressed the traffic allowed during construction,” Bettine said. &#8220As it is now, I am hearing stories from residents of large dump trucks speeding along a gravel residential road. There are some safety concerns related with that.”

This is not the company's first foray into the Alaska oil and gas industry. It drilled its first Alaska well, Northern Dancer No. 1, 7,500 foot deep in Tyonek last January. Storm Cat owns 100-percent interest in over 35,000 acres of on-shore lands leased from the state of Alaska and the Alaska Mental Health Trust throughout Southcentral Alaska, mostly in the Big Lake area.

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or darrell.breese@

frontiersman.com.