Alberta’s energy regulator has approved EnCana’s controversial application to drill three gas wells on Canadian Forces Base Suffield — but the federal government has indicated it might intervene and block the project.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) can issue licences for the sweet wells in question, but the base says it controls surface access. The base commander, Lt.-Col. Rod Keller, is reviewing the ERCB report before he makes a decision. “Once he has read and fully understood the report, he could possibly restrict access,” says Jennifer Taylor, a spokesperson for the base. “That’s in his realm of responsibility. That’s something he could do.”

EnCana, however, believes it has already got the green light. The company has about 9,000 wells on the base, including about 200 drilled this year. “It would be our understanding that we do have the OK to go ahead and drill these three wells just like we have for the other 200,” says company spokesperson Rhona DelFrari. The company, she says, plans to meet with Keller to discuss the matter.

The Department of National Defence advised the ERCB to reject EnCana’s application, citing concerns about the impacts on prairie grassland and wildlife. But the ERCB deemed the environmental effects of the EnCana sweet wells to be “minimal” and “acceptable,” so long as the company re-surveys well sites for at-risk species like burrowing owls before drilling.

Earlier this year, the provincial and federal governments blocked EnCana’s ambitious plan to drill 1,275 wells in a protected wildlife area on the base. The three wells recently approved by the ERCB are outside the protected area.