I have noticed several people talking about the rain and suggesting that it will save big dollars. I’m sure there may be some savings, but there is no way they have the capability to gather much rainwater onsite. Collecting several thousand gallons of rainwater is a massive job, let alone 3 million gallons. The drill site just isn’t big enough to put in that type of reservoirs, and I would be very surprised if the site(s) just happened to be located at the correct position on a drainage to catch that kind of water.
They will still need trucks delivering the water, they just may not have to go as far or have as hard a time finding water as before the rain. Plus it will probably be cheaper if they are filling their trucks out of a reservoir instead of pumping from a well. But I know that the water trucking companies will be paying for that water (and passing that charge onto AMEP), no matter where they find it, just maybe not as much or as troublesome.
We have sold water to drilling companies for years, from creeks, wells, or reservoirs depending on closest water. Always, ALWAYS making sure that the drilling companies didn’t take water the livestock needed. Most ranchers count on that as a secondary income, not their primary and will give it up before they face livestock water challenges.
My point being, while the rain is very good, I doubt it is much more than a wash concerning finances when you consider all the mud and conditions associated with major rainfall in a rural (off-pavement) area.
