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East of Holbrook and west of the Petrified Forest, near Adamana on Interstate 40, Pollard Helium, LLC, a Texas-based company, has begun drilling wells to extract helium from the potentially rich reserves that lie underneath the arid, desert lands of northeastern Arizona.
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Founded in 2017, by Joshua Pollard, a prior-service marine and disabled veteran, and his father Charles Pollard, Pollard Helium has secured 10,000 acres of leased land in Arizona, in anticipation of the depletion of the Bureau of Land Management Helium Reserve in 2020.
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Typically, helium, which is a lighter than air gas, is a byproduct of natural gas extraction, resulting in the United States producing more than half of the world’s helium.
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Arizona has never been an oil and gas state, but the rich supply of high-quality helium that is believed to lie under the fragile desert landscape, might change that as companies like Pollard take on the challenge of finding the sometimes elusive gas and begin to successfully extract it.
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While the eventual goal is to put in hundreds of wells, Pollard said that this year they will be doing good to get four or five wells operating, due to the regulations imposed by Arizona.
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From environmental studies to permits from the Arizona Department of Transportation and public perception, Pollard said that even though Arizona is fairly new to oil and gas drilling, the state is continuing to ramp up resources to speed up the process of permitting.
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“I realize that a big concern in extracting helium is fracking,” Pollard commented. “But we are not fracking and we are not using millions of gallons of water. The area we are working is very fragile and we are trying to be transparent with the people and the communities.
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“If you drill on state lands there are a lot of requirements,” continued Pollard. “Any archeological sites, you have to log with Arizona State Museum. We can’t disturb ground within so many feet of any found archeology. The rules for endangered species, which include animal and plant are long. Our environmental reports are hundreds of pages thick.”
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The market for helium, which is a non-flammable and non-poisonous gas that boils at absolute zero, is massive. From aerospace and defense technologies to high-tech manufacturing, welding and the production of fiber optic cables, the modern world has created an unlimited need for the element.
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One of the biggest users of helium is in the medical imaging industry that uses helium as a cooling agent in their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) machines.
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As Pollard said, “It is a miracle gas and it’s about to run out. They even use it in breathing treatments for collapsed lungs. Once the state gets going and we get going, it will be a bonanza out here.”
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In response to concerns over truck traffic, Pollard noted that his company has to have a permit from the Arizona Department of Transportation that allows his company to run a certain amount of trucks over the roads. “We have a permit from ADOT that clearly states if we mess up their roads there is going to be hell to pay.”
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The wells that are being drilled go down about 1,300 feet, with only 2,000 gallons of water used in the entire drilling process per well. According to Pollard the only other thing used besides water in the drilling process is bentonite. The bentonite creates a mud that is used to help reduce the friction on the drilling rig; stabilize the walls of the hole to prevent cave; and carry out or suspend the cuttings or debris from the hole.
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In an effort to build community and maintain transparency, Pollard said that he has reached out to No Fracking Arizona as well as state representatives and senators. “I have offered to have them come to the drilling site but no one has shown up. I have even offered to have household wells tested within a two-mile radius of our drilling. If I thought there was any chance of liability, there is no way I would offer that.”
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Coming from Texas, Pollard said that Holbrook has been very inviting to he and his crews. “With an estimated investment of $200,000 to $300,000 per well and an estimated 90 percent of that going to food, motels, gas and equipment, we will be spending a lot of money in Holbrook.”
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