Aug. 12--FARMINGTON -- Two oil and gas companies allegedly allowed a fence to be built illegally around their natural gas wells, blocking a man from accessing his property.

Energen Resources Corporation and XTO Energy Inc. commissioned a fence to be constructed without a building permit from the city of Farmington, said the city's Community Development Director Mike Sullivan.

After it was built in May last year, the fence around the gas wells southeast of Daybreak Drive and Pinon Hills Boulevard blocked access to a portion of property owned by Dr. Robert Lehmer, Sullivan said. The companies built the new fence to enclose the wells and prevent littering, Sullivan wrote in a city memo.

The companies did not ask Lehmer whether they could build the fence, Lehmer said.

Lehmer, who owns seven and a half acres, said the companies almost doubled the amount of his property they were using with the new fence to around one and a half acres.

Lehmer wants office buildings to be built on the property, but the fence is blocking an access road, he said.

"I can't access any of my property and stay within the city regulations," he said.

The adjoining wells, one operated by Energen and drilled in 1980 and the other operated by XTO and drilled in 1998, existed on the property with a fence before the city of Farmington annexed the land into its boundaries sometime ago, according to the city. The new fence enclosed a greater amount of land around the wells.

"Based

upon field measurements and documents showing the dimensions of the original well sites, the city found that the well site had been expanded by the construction of an unpermitted fence in violation of Farmington city code," a city report states.

City law requires companies to seek a permit before they expand wells and then to seek a building permit for fences, Sullivan said.

Energen and XTO built the fence for the health and safety of the public, but it will move the fence almost 30 feet back from where it stands, said Richard Tully, attorney for Energen.

Lehmer "will not have an access problem anymore," Tully said.

City councilors were scheduled to decide whether to approve permits from the oil and gas companies to make changes to the wells at a meeting Tuesday, more than a year after the new fence was built.

The companies should have told Lehmer they were building the fence, Councilman George Sharpe said.

"You didn't get permission to start with and my presumption is that (was) an oversight," Sharpe said.

Councilman Jason Sandel said "there were activities that occurred that were in violation of our law."

"That raises concerns for me as a person that's involved with the oil and gas industry" and as a councilman, said Sandel, executive vice president for Aztec Well Servicing Co.

The companies should be punished, Councilwoman Mary Fischer said, though it wasn't clear Thursday night whether the city would take action.

"It just seems like we're more bluff than bite, so that concerns me," she said.

The Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission previously recommended the city deny the permits.

However, the Farmington Oil and Gas Commission and city staffers previously recommended approval as long as the companies moved the fence, improved a road on the property, obtained a fence permit and landscaped the south and west sides of the wells.

"Hopefully we can resolve this to everybody's satisfaction and everybody can get on with their business," Sullivan said.

Steve Lynn: slynn@daily-times.com

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