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Show Additional Jobs From Development ESCALANTE Development of the giant carbon dioxide field north of Escalante could bring an influx of several hundred workers and their families into this small town during the construction phase of the huge project, said Escalante Ranger Doug Austin to members to the town council at their regular meeting this month. First drilled in 1961, the field has an estimated reserve of from 1.4 to 4 trillion cubic feet and an estimated worth, at $1 to $2 per thousand cubic feet, of almost $8 billion. By law, Austin said, the federal government would get one-eighth of the royalties from the gas, and Garfield County would get 25-percent 25-percent of that one-eighth. John Slawter, spokesman for Mid-Continent Mid-Continent Oil, Dallas, stated in a letter to the Garfield County Commission dated Feb. 29, 1984 that the ad valorem tax or value-added tax could bring as much as $200 million per year in tax money to the county. Austin is ranger at the Escalante District of the Dixie National Forest's Escalante office. "The Environmental Impact Statement on proposed drilling and pumping on the 23,000-acre carbon dioxide field in Garfield County north of Escalante should be completed in June," Austin said, adding that "the Department of Agriculture has been supportive of the decision making process to release this field for drilling." According to Forest Supervisor, Hugh Thompson in Cedar City, a significant number of interested persons have requested more time to review the EIS. In response, the Forest Service has extended the comment period to March 2. Austin explained that one of the (See JOBS Page 2) Jobs hold-ups on the project has been a 5,000-acre parcel known as Antones Peak. The area was placed in "wilderness" category and has just been released to be included in the bidding for the entire package. The area in question, though not the only holdup, has been of major concern to both environmentalists and to agencies supervising the area. It contains a Known Geologic Structure. Struc-ture. Even though all of the criteria for leasing have been met and regulations satisfied, Austin noted, because of the KGS, potential problems could arise with groups opposed to leasing. Under the leasing process, bidders bid for a 10-year lease. Anyone can bid, no expertise is needed, and even foreign bidders are acceptable. The only criterion, Austin said, is to meet the minimum bid level. A bid may be accepted, but the bidder is not required to pump the gas. He , may sit on the bid for the full 10 years if he chooses, Austin said. The carbon dioxide in the Escalante Anticline in 89.4 percent pure, making it a very important find, and, according to Mid-Continent Mid-Continent Oil Company's estimates, it is the largest field of carbon dioxide in the U.S. The first well drilled in 1961 produced 124,347,230 cubic feet per day. Austin said, "the take out on this project would be in the neighborhood neigh-borhood of $1 billion before it would begin payback which," he said, "could take 20 years. The gas in this field would be used in California to push to the surface remaining crude that is trapped in pools." Natural gas, he explained, is found in all fields. When that gas is used up, there is no pressure to bring the remaining oil to the surface. Other methods can be used to bring the crude up, but the cost is prohibitive. Relatively inexpensive carbon dioxide can do the work in a far more efficient manner. Austin said that initial costs to set up the drilling sites, the compressors com-pressors and the pipeline to California, though expensive, would help the nation because of its current dependency on foreign oil. A field in Wyoming and one in Colorado currently pump carbon dioxide into Texas and Kansas. He said that fields utilizing carbon dioxide in the production of oil have generated 60 percent more oil. Gross income from the oil enhanced recovery system could gross $120 billion and would cut the need for foreign imports by increasing in-creasing the total barrels of oil produced from oil fields. If the project in Garfield County takes place, Austin told the Escalante town council, the community com-munity will need to be prepared either by placing families in existing homes or by erecting "man camps" near Escalante or both. The project would impact Escalante strongest but would also have a powerful effect on the rest of the county. |