DE BEQUE — To date, Chevron has drilled 39 natural gas wells on its 40,000 acres north of De Beque.

Over the next 15 to 20 years, the company very well could drill 2,000 wells there.

The company’s plans demonstrate the magnitude of change that appears to be headed De Beque’s way.

Chevron’s drilling program could involve about 80 company employees, and 500 contractors associated with six drilling rigs, said company spokesperson Kristi Pollard.

Those wells likely would continue producing another 25 or 30 years after being drilled, meaning Chevron expects to be involved with gas production in the De Beque area for the next half century, investing some $7.3 billion over the life of the project, Pollard said.

Pollard said the company recognizes the kinds of impacts its project will have on the town, and is working to address them.

“We want to be a good neighbor. We’re striving to be a good neighbor and we want to preserve the integrity of their community,” Pollard said.

In seeking to do so, Chevron has employed a process unique to the company, she said. It’s an environmental, social and health impact assessment the company calls ESHIA. It’s akin to the environmental impact statements often required for projects on federal land.

Pollard said Chevron met with the community and tried to identify every impact its project might have. It then came back with mitigation strategies for each, and sought the community’s feedback on what might be missing.

As an example of the company’s efforts, Pollard said, when it advertised for proposals to develop gravel deposits on its land, it said that anyone interested would have to propose a way to transport the gravel without trucking it through town. If an adequate alternative route couldn’t be found, the gravel wouldn’t be removed, Pollard said. She said the company eventually decided against having the gravel extracted for now, due partly to transportation and visual impacts.

When the De Beque School District raised concerns about heavy Chevron-related truck traffic passing by a playground at a street corner, the company gave a grant to build a retaining wall to protect children from trucks that might run off the road. The wall also helps deflect sound away from the elementary school building there.

Chevron also paid for a new playground set to be built away from that corner.

Altogether, the company donated more than $200,000 to the school district, also enabling it to buy two-way radio systems and security cameras. School district Superintendent Doug Pfau said Chevron has enabled the district to buy things it couldn’t afford.

“They’ve been extremely cooperative and quite generous in what they’ve given the district,” he said.

He said Chevron has funded after-school programs and professional development, judged technology fairs, and spoken to students about the importance of finishing high school and perhaps even going to college before pursuing an energy-related job.

Pollard said Chevron recently announced it would be paying for a four-year scholarship for a De Beque student.

Chevron is trying to respond to parents concerned about students who are tempted to drop out of school and go to work in the gas field, rather than getting more education that might broaden their job opportunities later, including in oil and gas development.

“Don’t limit yourself, was sort of the message,” she said.

Pfau said EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) also has donated money to the school district, although its application process is more restrictive.

With the district’s enrollment of about 175 students expected to double in the next five years, Pfau hopes for continued support from Chevron and EnCana, and for other companies to step up as well.

Pollard said Chevron also has been in discussions with emergency response providers about helping meet equipment needs, such as for hazardous materials incidents.

Meanwhile, as Chevron seeks to address negative impacts of its presence, it also wants to remind people of the benefits it is bringing, including high-paying jobs, and a drilling program that eventually could produce enough natural gas to meet the needs of 2.4 million homes.

“We feel like we’re bringing some resources to the community that they may not necessarily have had — some jobs to the community that they may not necessarily have had,” Pollard said.

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E-mail Dennis Webb at dwebb@gjds.com.