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Research suggests that exploration may target areas where groundwater circulation may <br />enhance gas accumulation in the coal and associated sandstones (Tyler et al., 1998). <br />Under these exploration and development conditions, a USDW located in shallower <br />Cretaceous rocks near the margins of the basin, could be affected by hydraulic fracturing. <br />The depth to methane - bearing coals (about 6,000 feet) seems to indicate that, in the <br />Piceance Basin, the chances of contaminating any overlying, shallower USDWs (no <br />deeper than 1,000 feet) from injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids and subsequent <br />subsurface fluid transport are minimal. Potable wells in the Piceance Basin generally <br />extend no further than 200 feet in depth. The coalbed methane producing Cameo Zone <br />and the deepest known aquifer, the lower bedrock aquifer, have a stratigraphic separation <br />of over 6,000 feet. <br />Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources <br />of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of <br />Coalbed Methane Reservoirs <br />o <br />June 2004 <br />A3 -7 <br />