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BLM field office warns commissioners that Paradox/American Helium operator remains troubled after bankruptcy and plant fire
Summary
A Bureau lands-and-minerals official told Dolores County commissioners that a federal lessee (Paradox/Paradox Resources/American Helium, later GNG Ventures) failed to pay royalties, triggered a shut-in order in January 2024, filed bankruptcy and left unresolved operations. The field office spent about $840,000 to secure sites, issued plug/produce letters, and said the operator has not yet produced sale volumes.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, Ryan Joyner, identified in the record as an assistant field manager for lands and minerals, briefed the Dolores County Board of County Commissioners on a multi-county problem tied to an operator that has held federal leases in the Paradox Basin.
Joyner said the federal office received a letter in January 2024 from the Office of Natural Resources Revenue requiring the company (previously Paradox/Paradox Resources and later identified as American Helium and GNG Ventures in the transcript) to "shut in" certain federal units because royalties had not been paid. Paradox later filed for bankruptcy in March 2024 and the assets changed hands in May 2024.
"Back in January 2024, we received a letter ... to shut in ... Paradox," Joyner said, and he described a series of downstream problems: a fire at the Lisbon gas plant in December that removed the plant's processing capacity, regulatory staff layoffs at the operator, and multiple operational failures that left the field office to secure exposed locations.
Joyner said the field office contracted with a firm called Northwind (transcript spelling) to secure sites and remove liquids, and that the agency spent roughly $840,000 assembling those emergency services and to sell and move product where possible. He said the operator later hired outside engineering (CoolSky) and other contractors and that regulators have issued 31 plug-and-produce letters and are planning to plug at least a dozen wells this fall, using a state plugging program that provides about $150,000 per well in some cases.
The briefing described ongoing coordination with state regulators (transcript references to ECMC and the state of Utah) and inspector-general inquiries tied to the operator group (named in the transcript as GNG Ventures / American Helium). Joyner said the field office was watching the operator closely and reserved civil-penalty authority if the company did not comply; he cited the possible scale of civil penalties as very large when multiple infractions are aggregated.
Joyner also told the board that the operator had not produced marketable volumes from the leases since the change in ownership and that questions remain about how gas would be processed if the operator were to resume activity, given damaged or out-of-service processing plants.
"They to date, have not produced 1 ounce of gas, 1 cup of oil," Joyner said, summarizing how production has not resumed under the new operator, and warning that plug-and-abandon or other enforcement actions could follow if compliance is not restored.
Why it matters locally: the county relies on royalty-driven economic activity and on responsible operators to manage environmental and economic liabilities. Joyner said the agency is preparing maps and additional data for the county and will continue coordination; commissioners thanked him and asked for ongoing updates.
