BOISE, Idaho -– An energy company with a stake in natural-gas drilling in western Idaho announced Tuesday three of its top executives have resigned.
Bridge Resources Corporation President and CEO Ed Davies, Vice-President Tom Stewart, and Manager of Exploration Kim Parsons have all resigned effective immediately.
Bridge Energy, based in Denver, has a stake in 11 wells and 90,000 acres in Idaho’s Payette and Washington counties.
Currently Bridge reports that further developments are pending approval by state and county governments. Washington County Planning and Zoning was scheduled Tuesday to address its hydraulic fracturing regulations, but the issue was tabled because the commission failed to obtain a quorum. An Idaho regulatory agency is tentatively slated to begin its public hearings on state regulations on Oct. 21.
The drilling sites have drawn the interest of area residents, some of whom have expressed concern about similarities between the techniques Bridge Energy plans to use and the controversial hydraulic fracturing methods that have been employed elsewhere in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has been blamed for tainted groundwater, air pollution and contaminated soil — assertions denied by energy companies that say evidence is insufficient to link their practices to these problems.
Bridge officials have said they’ll need to inject chemicals in the Idaho wells to conduct what they’ve termed “mini-fracs” on a relatively small scale so the gas can flow to the surface. But they say the technique will not lead to environmental problems.
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