Idaho gas project gets new wrinkle: A plan to change the drilling process has Payette County worried. | Environment | Idaho Statesman
State officials plan to meet next week to start to establish a program to oversee drilling and natural gas production that could bring millions to help pay for schools, state and local government programs.
But the Payette County and New Plymouth officials who govern closest to the proposed sites are worried about what effect the drilling techniques now being proposed could have on their drinking water.
Bridge Resources Corp. and its partner, Paramax Resources Ltd., both of Canada, spent $20 million in 2010 to drill 11 wells in Payette County. Three of the 11 wells can produce at economic levels naturally. The other four require stimulation through a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” the company says.
The company wants to inject at high pressure a mixture of gel and sand into the formation to clean out the reservoir near the well bore, prop open fractures and entice gas to flow more freely. The process has been used for more than 60 years but has become controversial since a new technique — horizontal fracking — has been developed to increase production in shale deposits.
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