The county board met on Monday to consider whether to approve a drilling proposal from privately held Gunnison Energy Corp. of West Palm Beach, Florida and has two weeks to reach a decision. Colorado state regulators have already approved the plan.

According to the National Petroleum Council, coalbed methane accounts for some 12 percent of untapped gas reserves in the the region.

While reserves in the area are believed smaller than those the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, worries about possible environmental damage have raised concerns among residents about the effects on tourism, ranching and agriculture.

Reserves in the West are seen as key to President George W. Bush's plan to boost domestic methane production, especially since the Senate rejected a drilling exploration plan for environmentally sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Environmental activists have lobbied to block the development of coalbed methane in parts of Wyoming and Montana, saying water from the wells may be tainted by salinity.

Methane is a clean-burning natural gas found underground. Drilling for the fuel involves pumping large volumes of ground water which holds the gas in the coal through pressure.

Once the water is removed the gas is freed, but problems can arise because the water, which can contain sodium bicarbonate, is potentially harmful to humans, cattle or crops if it is allowed to run off.

DAMAGES FEARED, RESERVES UNKNOWN

"We just feel the methane coalbed mining has a potential to do a lot of damage," Barbara Heck, co-chair of the Grand Mesa Citizen's Alliance, said. She and her husband operate a vineyard in the area.

Gunnison Energy has leases on 90,000 acres in the North Folk Valley in western Colorado, but reserves are not known, according to Gunnison Energy President Bernard Cherry.

The company wants to test four wells this summer, study the results over the winter and then go ahead in stages if the project makes economic sense, he said.

The next step would about 15 to 20 wells, he told Reuters. "Any widespread drilling would have to be subject to a full Environmental Impact Statement, state and federal oversight and citizen involvement," he said.

Gunnison Energy is one of several companies owned by William Koch, who won the 1992 Americas Cup and established the Oxbow Group in 1983 after being ousted from the family business, Koch Industries, by his brothers. Lawsuits between the two sides have been settled.

COURT CHALLENGE FORESEEN

Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Richard Griebling said the state body has already approved three of Gunnison's four proposed wells and the state body has the final say.

"Some people just don't want wells period," Griebling said, adding that wells are designed with cement and steel to isolate them from nearby aquifers.

Wayne Wolf, one of three full-time Delta County commissioners whose family is in ranching, said he was concerned that the state body did not defer its decision until hearing more evidence.

Like others, he expected the controversy ultimately to end up in the courts.

Michael McCarthy, an attorney from Hotchkiss, Colorado, said the citizens' group would challenge the proposed wells because an environmental study conducted on the land leased to Gunnison looked looked at the impact only from coal mining - not the proposed drilling.