Alaska officials head to Raton basin

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News publisher & managing editor

Four state of Alaska officials left Sept. 22 for a three-day tour of shallow gas operations in Colorado and Wyoming, an Alaska Division of Oil and Gas official told Petroleum News.

Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin, Division of Oil and Gas Director Mark Myers, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Commissioner Randy Ruedrich and Pat Galvin, who heads up permitting within the Division of Oil and Gas, were to spend their first day touring Evergreen Resources’ operations in the Raton basin in southern Colorado.

From there they were to meet with U.S. Bureau of Land Management personnel, who issue permits in the basin, and with officials from AOGCC’s counterpart in the region.

The Alaska officials were also to meet with a Wyoming environmental group which opposes coalbed methane development and has been instrumental in bringing those concerns to the citizens of Southcentral Alaska.

On Oct. 13 the state of Alaska will host a public informational meeting in Wasilla at the Middle School gym at 6:30 p.m. Irwin, Myers, Ruedrich and Galvin will be at that meeting to share what they learned from their trip.