FRUITLAND, Idaho — Concerns mounted in Fruitland Wednesday night as a packed city hall meeting gave homeowners the chance to voice opposition to Snake River Oil & Gas's integration application which could potentially lead to drilling inside city limits.
The state-organized meeting featured an evidentiary hearing led by the Idaho Department of Lands and the Office of Administrative Hearings, allowing each party to present information before moving to public comment.
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"This application needs to be rejected," said Julie Fugate, a Fruitland resident.
Another resident expressed frustration about the proposed location.
“It’s just awful in this day and age, and with all the land out there, you can’t find someplace better than our impact area? Would you want a well 300 feet from your house?” said Shawna Pearson, a Fruitland resident.
The meeting marks the start of weeks of work for residents as Snake River Oil & Gas LLC seeks approval for integration. If approved, homeowners who did not consent to a potential well in their backyard would still be compensated for their mineral rights.
"We're a really small community here, and I could see where a big gas company, oil company, can come in and think that they're just gonna run over Fruitland, and that's not right," said Pearson.
The application by Snake River Oil & Gas has been months in the making for a unit within city limits near industrial areas but residents are concerned that it's also directly behind residential subdivisions. Residents say that they're worried about the proximity and its potential impacts if the process moves forward.
One homeowner in the Rivercrest subdivision highlighted safety concerns.
"As a homeowner in Rivercrest that has one entrance and exit, if there is a natural gas emergency, this creates an additional hazard to my neighbors and myself. This project is within city limits on three sites,"said Shannon Crawford, a Fruitland resident.
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Water contamination emerged as another major concern for residents who rely on private wells.
"If they happen to spill any of that in our water aquifer, and we have about 20 people down there that has their own private wells, we don't have city water. We have no way to get city water, and if they contaminate our water aquifer, it's contaminated for hundreds of years," said a Fruitland community member Duke Fugate.
Several Fruitland residents who have lived near oil and gas wells attended the meeting, sharing their experiences and warning that homeowners who have not signed their mineral rights could face similar issues.
"It's just not worth, it's not worth the chance that something bad could happen, and if it does, who's going to pay for that? How does that work?" said Mel Person, a Fruitland resident.
No final decisions have been made on the application.
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