Colorado
Neighbors make a final stand against massive oil and gas drilling plan near Aurora Reservoir
A contentious plan to drill up to 166 oil and gas wells on the southeastern fringe of metro Denver, near hundreds of homes and the Aurora Reservoir — a drinking water source for nearly 400,000 people — will finally land before state energy regulators this week for a key decision on its fate.
Neighbors worried about potential health and ecological impacts from the project want the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission to say no to the plan after an extensive hearing that’s set to begin Tuesday. The oil and gas producer behind it hopes to install hydraulic fracturing operations at eight sites across Lowry Ranch in Arapahoe County over the next four years.
“The main problem is the effect on public welfare, safety and health,” said Marsha Kamin, who moved to Aurora’s Southshore neighborhood 18 months ago from Michigan. “We’re talking about thousands and thousands and thousands of people.”
As Colorado’s population has ballooned in recent decades, especially in Denver’s northern and eastern suburbs that overlay the mineral-rich Denver-Julesburg Basin, friction has grown between new and expanding neighborhoods and the oil and gas operations set up nearby. Six years ago, the evolving standoff led to an attempt by a citizen group to appreciably increase the required distance between wells and homes through a statewide ballot initiative. Voters shot it down.
Less than a year later, the legislature passed Senate Bill 19-181 and Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law. The law prioritized public health, safety and the environment when state officials consider oil and gas development — a profound change from the industry-focused approach Colorado had taken for decades with energy extraction.
Kamin and her neighbors, hundreds of whom are part of the Save the Aurora Reservoir advocacy group, are putting their hopes in Colorado’s five-year-old oil and gas reform law to halt the project. The group has been working to derail Crestone Peak Resources’ proposed fracking plan for the better part of two years.
“It’s disheartening that an industry can have this much power over people,” Kamin said.
But Lowry Ranch opponents may face a bumpy road this week, following a recommendation by the Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s director, Julie Murphy, that the board of commissioners approve the comprehensive area plan for the project.
In her final determination this month, Murphy wrote that Crestone’s plan “complies with all applicable requirements” in the ECMC’s rules.
The commission’s Tuesday hearing is scheduled to go all day, with a second meeting set for Friday if more time is needed. A decision to deny, approve or stay the plan is expected by week’s end, agency spokesman Chris Arend told The Denver Post.
If the overall plan wins approval, more hearings would be needed to consider individual well pads and wells, at both the state and county levels. Though the opponents largely live nearby in Aurora, Colorado’s third-largest city, the pads would be on state-owned land in an unincorporated part of the county just over Aurora’s city line.
While the ECMC approved more than 800 oil and gas wells in 2022 and more than 700 last year, it has denied applications to drill in recent years. In 2022, it said no to a plan from Kerr-McGee to drill 33 wells near a Firestone neighborhood. The commissioners’ main objection centered on 62 houses that would have been too close to a well pad, violating the state’s minimum 2,000-foot setback from homes and schools.
In January, the commission denied permits for 18 wells at Coyote Trails near the border of Erie and Broomfield.
Ann Hussain, who lives in Southshore with a sweeping backyard view of the Aurora Reservoir, said she learned about Crestone’s plans only in the spring. She worries that drilling under the reservoir could result in contaminants leaking into the body of water or into aquifers.
She also worries about air pollution generated at the well pads, one of which would lie less than a mile from a school. One of the eight pads, dubbed State Sunlight-Long, would be just 3,200 feet from her back fence. Thirty-two wells are planned for Sunlight-Long.
“I can’t believe you can take a community and set up an industry right outside these backyards,” Hussain said. “How is it that this can be done so close to people’s homes?”
Plan meets more expansive county buffer
The answer to that question lies in the state’s oil and gas rules, which permit drilling outside a 2,000-foot buffer from schools and neighborhoods. Last fall, Arapahoe County commissioners imposed even wider setbacks than what the state requires, mandating a 3,000-foot buffer between wells and occupied structures, landfills and reservoirs — both existing and planned.
That rule-making followed an attempt by project opponents in April 2023 to get Arapahoe County to impose a six-month halt on issuing new permits to energy companies to drill. The county commissioners voted 3-2 to reject a moratorium.
Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for Crestone parent company Civitas Resources, said not only does the Lowry Ranch plan comply with state rules, it also hews to Arapahoe County’s oil and gas regulations.
“The redundant safeguards and subsequent monitoring have shown that oil and natural gas development can safely occur without impacting groundwater and surface water sources,” Coolidge wrote in an email. “In fact, multiple layers of steel casing and cement underneath more than a mile of rock separate the wellbore from our state’s aquifers and surface water like the Aurora Reservoir.”
Crestone plans to drill 7,500 feet below the surface before running its wells horizontally. Coolidge said wells have “been drilled over a mile below tens of thousands of homes in the Front Range, with no impacts.”
Crestone will implement measures to mitigate impacts at its well sites, he said, including soundwalls, electric-powered drilling rigs, low-emission engines and low-odor mud during the drilling phase. Oil, gas and water will travel off-site by pipe, he said, “to reduce truck traffic during the production phase.”
Dan Haley, the president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said the state’s 2019 oil and gas law was meant to “create the most environmentally protective rules in the country … without banning the production of this vital resource.”
“Arapahoe County, and others, have passed regulations that exceed the state’s already stringent protections,” he said, “and our members are meeting those high expectations and producing this resource cleaner and better than most anywhere in the world.”
Congressman focuses on Superfund site
But such assurances haven’t quieted concerns about the unique features at Lowry Ranch, a 26,500-acre sweep of prairie owned by the Colorado State Land Board.
The property encompasses the 480-acre Lowry Landfill, a Superfund site at the northeast corner of Quincy Avenue and Gun Club Road, where an estimated 138 million gallons of liquid industrial waste are buried. An underground plume of contaminated water has migrated several miles from what is considered one of the country’s most contaminated toxic waste sites.
Some of the proposed well pads’ proximity prompted U.S. Rep. Jason Crow to send a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency on July 15. He asked whether it had studied the potential for extractive seismic activity at the landfill and how that might impact “the safety of the Aurora Reservoir Dam and the reservoir itself.”
The Democratic congressman asked how the agency could “be certain the drilling will not cause fractures and instability that threaten the mitigation strategies EPA has in place at (the landfill).” He also inquired if the agency has considered expanding the boundaries of the Superfund site to include the underground plume.
Coolidge, from Civitas, said the company this year agreed not to drill underneath the Lowry Landfill.
“On claims around seismicity, there has been no reportable seismic activity caused by hydraulic fracturing in Colorado,” he wrote.
But Mike Foote, an environmental attorney representing Save the Aurora Reservoir — and a prime sponsor of SB19-181 when he was a state senator — said “drilling can cause earthquakes.”
The United States Geological Service says that while most induced earthquakes are not directly the result of fracking, they can be triggered by the “disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of oil production.”
“You don’t want to cause earthquakes, and Crestone hasn’t studied or addressed the issue anywhere close to adequately enough to allow them to drill,” Foote said.
Drilling could begin next year
Matt Sura, an oil and gas attorney who represents local governments and conservation organizations, said the five-year-old law was a critical step in more effectively regulating the energy industry and giving local governments a bigger voice in the process. Sura is not involved in the Lowry Ranch proposal.
“Senate Bill 181 required that there be public hearings on locations (of wells and equipment) and allowed the public to speak to the decision-makers, rather than those decisions (being) made administratively,” he said. “That was a huge sea change.”
Where there is still room for improvement, Sura said, is in state regulators addressing the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development, specifically when it comes to air pollution. The ECMC will start hearings on rules for that in mid-September.
“I’m hopeful the commission is going to be willing to set limits on oil and gas development and drilling — and the amount of pollution that can be emitted from the oil and gas industry,” he said.
But those rules won’t be in place this week when the ECMC meets to consider the Lowry Ranch comprehensive area plan.
The Front Range for years has been out of compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. In 2022, the EPA designated the nine-county northern Front Range region — including metro Denver — as being in “severe nonattainment,” triggering more federal regulations to clean the air.
That frustrates Kamin, the Southshore resident who watches wildlife move through the neighborhood on their way to and from the rolling hills of Lowry Ranch to the east.
“We’ve been a nonattainment area for years and they want to add more pollution to the area,” she said. “It makes no sense.”
If Crestone’s plan receives the blessing of the ECMC this week, drilling could begin as early as 2025.
Denver Post reporter Judith Kohler contributed to this story
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Colorado
Colorado faces LA in first round as Kings captain Anze Kopitar embarks on final Stanley Cup chase
DENVER — Anze Kopitar wrapped up the last regular season of his storied career. The Los Angeles Kings captain wants to prolong his final playoff run for as long as possible.
Kopitar, who announced in September his plans to retire, instantly becomes a postseason rallying point for the Kings. They have a tall task ahead of them against the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the league, with the top goal scorer in Nathan MacKinnon and one of the best defensemen in the game in Cale Makar. Game 1 is Sunday at Ball Arena, where the Avalanche are 26-9-6.
“Playoffs,” said the 38-year-old Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Kings. “I’m not going to say anything can happen, but we’ll go in and we’ll play hard and we’ll see where that takes us.”
This will be the third postseason series between the two teams and the first in 24 years. Colorado won in seven games during both the 2002 conference quarterfinals and the 2001 conference semifinals.
It’s been a record season for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche as they amassed the most points (121) in franchise history. That broke the mark set by the 2022 team, which went on to win the Stanley Cup title. MacKinnon had a career-best 53 goals.
Goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the net this season and surrendered a league low in goals. They earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games — Wedgewood suited up in 45 and Blackwood 39 — for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The other goaltender to win that honor for Colorado was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (2001-02).
“We’re in a good spot,” Colorado forward Brock Nelson said. “The mentality of this group throughout the year, right from the start of training camp, (was) set on a mission to be the best team.”
Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates the goal against Edmonton Oilers goalie Connor Ingram (39) during shoot-out NHL action, in Edmonton on Monday, April 13, 2026. Credit: AP/JASON FRANSON
Record against each other
The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado this season and were outscored by a 13-5 margin.
“You hear the hype. They have good players,” Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “We’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody. That can really frustrate them.”
Leading after two
The Avalanche were 41-0-0 when leading after two periods. They’re the first squad to have a lead after two periods on 40 or more instances and capture each one, according to team research.
“Even though we’ve been smart, we’ve been committed, we’ve been relentless at times, it’s going to have to go to a whole new level now,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I have faith in our guys.”
Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who is retiring after this season, acknowledges the crowd after being recognized after losing to the Vancouver Canucks during overtime NHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Credit: AP/DARRYL DYCK
Remember the season opener?
Six grueling months ago, the Avalanche and Kings opened the season against each other. The Avalanche won 4-1 in Los Angeles behind a pair of goals from Martin Necas, who would go on to register his first 100-point season (38 goals, 62 assists).
The two teams join an exclusive club by becoming the fifth pair since 2015-16 to open the regular season and the playoffs against each other, according to NHL Stats. The other pairs to do so were Montreal and Toronto (2020-21); Colorado and St. Louis (2020-21); St. Louis and Winnipeg (2018-19); and Los Angeles and San Jose (2015-16).
Of those teams that won the season opener only San Jose went on to win the series. It’s a trend Kopitar and the Kings wouldn’t mind joining.
Kopitar and the playoffs
Kopitar helped the Kings to the Stanley Cup title in 2011-12 and 2013-14 along with goaltender Jonathan Quick, who now is with the New York Rangers and recently said he’s retiring. Kopitar has played in 103 postseason games with 27 goals and 62 assists.
“The intensity ramps up, everything ramps up,” Kopitar said of the postseason. “Every mistake, every little play, magnifies now.”
Familiar faces
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper was in net for the Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. In addition, Kuemper and Drew Doughty were teammates with MacKinnon, Makar and Devon Toews when Canada won silver at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Colorado
U.S. Women’s National Team Closes Three-Game Series Against Japan With Emphatic 3-0 Victory in Colorado
COMMERCE CITY, COLO. (April 17, 2026) – Naomi Girma, Rose Lavelle and Kennedy Wesley scored second-half goals to lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a 3-0 victory over Japan in the third and final match of the series between the two sides.
Wesley recorded her first international goal and assist in her sixth cap to become the 27th player to score under U.S. head coach Emma Hayes. Girma scored her third international goal and Lavelle scored her 29th, marking her 10th goal contribution in her last 10 appearances.
Precision in the final third had been a key point of emphasis for Hayes heading into the match, and even though the USA did not score before the break, it showed flashes of what was to come in the second half, dominating 70% of possession and firing nine shots. The USWNT then broke through with three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to record its largest victory over Japan since 2017.
For the first time in this three-game series, the match went into halftime scoreless, but the Americans came close on several occasions. Off one of the USA’s four first half corner kicks, the most dangerous look came in the 21st minute from a Lavelle service that was headed around the box before defender Tierna Davidson nodded the ball down to Sophia Wilson, who had her back to goal. The forward chested down the ball and smashed a turnaround half-volley that forced a point blank save from Japanese goalkeeper Chika Hirao. Girma leaped up to get her head on the rebound, but her shot went over the crossbar.
In the 39th minute, Lavelle received the ball just past half field and played a long switch over to Alyssa Thompson on the left side. The forward beat her defender before playing a pass centrally to midfielder Claire Hutton at the top of the box. Her first-time shot from just outside the penalty box clanged off the crossbar and out for a goal kick. In one of the final plays before the half, forward Trinity Rodman cut inside the box and sent a cross in that deflected off defender Toko Koga, nearly causing an own goal before Hirao collected the ball.
As it did in the first match of the series, the USA came out hot to start the second half and scored almost immediately. On April 11, the USA scored 141 seconds into the half and tonight the goal came 155 seconds after the half began. The USA earned a corner kick after Wilson blasted a shot from outside the box that forced another leaping save from Hirao. Lavelle sent in service from the right corner that drifted towards Wesley at the back post. Wesley headed the cross back in front of goal for Girma, who redirected the ball with a powerful header into the back of the net. The goal was a combination of two center backs and former Stanford University teammates for Girma’s first goal since October of 2024.
Less than 10 minutes later, Wesley started the counterattack that led to the second goal. The defender picked off a pass in the USA’s defensive third and played captain Lindsey Heaps in the midfield. Heaps passed the ball forward to Rodman, who nutmegged her defender with a long pass, splitting two more Japanese players to send Lavelle in on a breakaway. Lavelle dribbled to the top of 18-yard box and then slotted a low shot into the bottom left corner with class to double the lead.
The squad kept the momentum rolling following substitutions just after the hour mark. A few minutes after entering the match, midfielder Jaedyn Shaw stepped up to take the USA’s sixth corner kick of the match. She sent a cross to the center of the box where Wesley leaped to hit a shot with the outside of her right foot, redirecting the ball through traffic and into the left side goal for the third of the night and the first of her USWNT career.
The USA held Japan scoreless for the first time in the series with goalkeeper Claudia Dickey making three saves to earn her eighth clean sheet in her 10th appearance.
Goal Scoring Rundown:
USA –NAOMI GIRMA (KENNEDY WESLEY),47th minute: Rose Lavelle lofted a corner kick from the right to the back post to Kennedy Wesley, who drifted under the ball and headed it back in front of the face of goal. Naomi Girma was in perfect position to redirect the cross with a forceful header into the back of the net at the center of the six-yard box. USA 1, JPN 0
USA – ROSE LAVELLE (TRINITY RODMAN), 56th minute: Kennedy Wesley intercepted a pass in the USA’s defensive third and played Lindsey Heaps near the center circle. Heaps played the ball forward to Trinity Rodman, who split two defenders with a pass up the field as Lavelle made a run inside. Lavelle dribbled toward the 18-yard box before slotting her shot to the bottom left corner of the goal. USA 2, JPN 0
USA – KENNEDY WESLEY (JAEDYN SHAW), 63rd minute: Jaedyn Shaw sent a corner kick toward the center of the box. Around eight yards out, Kennedy Wesley connected with the cross using the outside of her right foot, sending her shot through traffic into the back of the net. USA 3, JPN 0 FINAL
Additional Notes:
- Emma Hayes made 10 changes to the Starting XI from the last match against Japan on April 14 with Claire Hutton as the only player to start two games in a row. However, this Starting XI had only two changes from the Starting XI on April 11 in the first game against Japan. From the first match, Tierna Davidson replaced Kennedy Wesley on the back line and Hutton stepped in for midfielder Sam Coffey.
- With her cap today, Colorado native Lindsey Heaps tied Shannon MacMillan for 18th most caps in USWNT history with 176, making her one of only 19 women to reach the milestone. Heaps will return to her hometown to play professionally as a member of the NWSL’s Denver Summit upon the completion of her contract with OL Lyonnes in July.
- The other starter from Colorado was forward Sophia Wilson. The last time Wilson and Heaps played in Colorado was on June 1, 2024, vs. Korea Republic. The U.S. also won that match 4-0, which was also Hayes’ first match as head coach of the USWNT and the fourth-to-last match before of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Wilson hails from Windsor just an hour from Commerce City and Denver proper while Golden, a suburb of Denver, is Heaps’ hometown.
- Davidson earned the start, her first since Feb. 23, 2025, in a 2-1 win over Australia. In the WNT’s previous match on April 14, Davidson entered as a substitute in the 65th minute, her first appearance in more than one year following her recovery from an ACL injury she suffered in March of 2025. Tonight, she played the first 45 minutes before coming out on pre-planned sub.
- Center back Naomi Girma scored her third international goal – and all three have been headers. She scored her first two international goals on Oct. 30, 2024, against Argentina.
- Girma was assisted on her goal by fellow center back and Stanford Cardinal Kennedy Wesley, who replaced Davidson at halftime. Girma and Wesley played two full seasons together on the backline over three overlapping school years (2019-2022) as Girma took a redshirt season for her junior year (2020-21) due to injury. It was Wesley’s first international assist in her sixth career cap.
- Rose Lavelle’s goal in the 56th minute tonight was her 29th career goal and second goal of the week after recording one goal and an assist in the April 11 match against Japan. Lavelle now has 10 goal contributions in her last 10 matches for the USWNT.
- Lavelle was assisted by forward Trinity Rodman, who recorded her 11th international assist.
- Wesley scored her first international goal in the 64th minute. She is the 27th player to score a goal under head coach Emma Hayes. The center back ended her 45 minutes of play with two contributions, a goal and an assist, and was voted Woman of the Match.
- Jaedyn Shaw recorded her fifth career assist on Wesley’s goal with her service on a corner kick.
- Two of the three goals scored by the U.S. tonight came off corner kicks.
- The USWNT recorded its first clean sheet of the April window and its eighth shutout win in its last 10 matches.
- With the temperature at 38 degrees at kickoff and patches of snow pushed outside the edges of the pitch, it was the coldest WNT game since February 2022, which kicked off in Frisco, Texas.
- With the new FIFA substitution rules in effect (eight are now allowed in friendly matches), and Japan making use of a concussion sub, which gave the USA an extra substitution opportunity, the USA made its most ever substitutions in a single game over the 778 matches in program history with nine.
- Japan also made nine substitutions.
– U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT –
Match: United States vs. Japan
Date: April 17, 2026
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: DICK’S Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.
Attendance: 17,589
Kickoff: 7 p.m. MT / 9 p.m. ET
Weather: 38 degrees, mostly sunny
| Scoring Summary | 1 | 2 | F |
| USA | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| JPN | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USA — Naomi Girma (Kennedy Wesley) | 47th minute |
| USA — Rose Lavelle (Trinity Rodman) | 56 |
| USA — Kennedy Wesley (Jaedyn Shaw) | 64 |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Claudia Dickey, 23-Emily Fox, 4-Naomi Girma (5-Lilly Reale, 83), 12-Tierna Davidson (25-Kennedy Wesley, 46), 22-Gisele Thompson (3-Avery Patterson, 62), 10-Lindsey Heaps (Capt.) (17-Sam Coffey, 63), 15-Claire Hutton (7-Lily Yohannes, 82), 16-Rose Lavelle (13-Olivia Moultrie, 73), 2-Trinity Rodman (20-Michelle Cooper, 73), 11-Sophia Wilson (9-Ally Sentnor, 73), 21-Alyssa Thompson (8-Jaedyn Shaw, 63)
Substitutes not used: 6-Emily Sams, 19-Emma Sears, 24-Phallon Tullis-Joyce
Not dressing: 14-Emily Sonnett, 18-Jane Campbell
Head Coach: Emma Hayes
JPN: 12-Chika Hirao, 2- Risa Shimizu (24-Maya Hijikata, 74), 6-Toko Koga (3-Moeka Minami, 60), 4-Saki Kumagai, 13-Hikaru Kitagawa (21-Miyabi Moriya, 25), 19-Momoko Tanikawa (20-Manaka Matsukubo, 46), 16-Yuzuki Yamamoto (17-Maika Hamano, 46), 14-Yui Hasegawa (Capt.) (10-Fuka Nagano, 74), 15-Aoba Fujino (22-Remina Chiba, 74), 9-Riko Ueki (11-Mina Tanaka, 46), 7-Hinata Miyazawa (18-Honoka Hayashi, 60)
Substitutes not used: 23-Akane Okuma, 1-Ayaka Yamashita
Head Coach: Michihisa Kano
Stats Summary: USA / JPN
Shots: 15 / 5
Shots on Goal: 7 / 3
Saves: 3 / 4
Corner Kicks: 6 / 2
Fouls: 7 / 5
Offside: 0 / 2
Misconduct Summary:
None
Officials:
Ref: Myriam Marcotte (CAN)
AR1: Mijensa Rensch (SUR)
AR2: Stephanie Yee Sing (JAM)
4TH: Carly Shaw-Maclaren (CAN)
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