Western Energy Boom Fuels Land Conflicts

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/mar/03/030308107.html

On a blustery winter day on the rolling plains north of Denver, a herd of cattle stood grazing a few yards from an idled natural gas pump in a dormant field as traffic rumbled by along a black-topped, two-lane highway.

Just down the road are shopping centers and subdivisions packed with new homes, gobbling up land around this once-sleepy agricultural town that just happens to sit atop the Wattenberg gas field, one of the nation's most productive.

Ed Orr knows this land well. A rancher and developer whose family roots in Colorado date back more than a century, Orr says the real estate business is growing increasingly difficult because gas producers want access no matter what the plans are for the property.

"The conflict of the cultures is certainly more prevalent. You have two industries that are both growing," Orr said. "They think that we have no valid rights to get any accommodation for development use of the surface."

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[phantom power]

1. I imagine this will continue to get worse...

as the fossil carbon extraction industries get more desperate.