Will Colorado approve fracking plan proposed near Aurora communities, reservoir?

AURORA, Colo. — Colorado’s oversight agency for oil and gas operations will decide this week whether to approve a sprawling fracking plan strongly opposed by community members.

Civitas, one of Colorado’s biggest oil and gas operators, hopes to drill more than 160 wells east of the Aurora Reservoir, neighborhoods and schools. The proposal is known as the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan, named for the state-owned prairie lands where the operator wants to install its well pads.

The plan has sparked worries among many community members living nearby. To counter it, they created a group called Save the Aurora Reservoir (STAR) on Facebook. Almost 1,800 people have joined their group.

In a first for Colorado, the community group convinced the state’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) to hold local hearings for community members to share their concerns. The hearings began last week and will end this Wednesday.

In those hearings, the ECMC decided to recognize the community group STAR as an “affected” party, allowing them to testify despite the operator’s objections.

Hundreds of community members have attended the hearings, in person and online. Their testimony has included concerns about potential health risks and environmental harms if the drilling plans are approved.

Kevin Chan, who lives near the proposed wells and helped create STAR, said their top concerns are potential air pollution, water contamination and proximity to a superfund site.

“We are really just striving for one thing, and that is to keep our community safe,” Chan said. But the state’s process for reviewing the plan has been challenging for community members to understand and participate in, he said.

“What people don’t understand about these types of projects is that they’re very large, and if they come into your community,” Chan said, the operator has vast financial and legal resources to navigate the state’s requirements.

“We are the underdog in this fight,” he said. But “it’s better to try to do something than not do anything at all.”

He said it’s frightening to know a decision is looming.

“I would hope that [the state commissioners] see the flaws in the plans and they deny it as is,” he said.

Dozens of environmental groups in Colorado also oppose the proposal. They sent a letter to Governor Jared Polis urging him to encourage the state commissioners to reject it.

Civitas filed the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan with the state two years ago. Since then, the operator has made changes requested by the ECMC and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which said it was concerned that fracking surrounding and underneath a nearby superfund site “could lead to a significant unintended release of hazardous substances.”

If the state commission approves the proposal, it would be the fourth comprehensive area plan approved in Colorado. The operator would still be required to file applications for each of its well sites. However, the state has approved all previous well-site applications by CAP recipients.

Civitas is proposing to drill the wells on the Lowry Ranch, owned by Colorado’s State Land Board, which leases its land and mineral rights to raise funds for public schools.

Civitas already operates on the Lowry Ranch. In 2020, It acquired an existing lease for several wells from the energy giant ConocoPhillips and included those operating wells in its proposal to drill more wells on the property.

Most of the funds raised by the State Land Board, about 80%, come from oil and gas production. Over the last 15 years, the State Land Board has collected $1.5 billion for public schools from oil and gas operations.

Civitas estimates its proposed fracking on the Lowry Ranch could generate about $640 million for public schools in the first 15 years of operations, including both royalties paid to the State Land Board and property tax revenues, according to a statement provided to Denver7.

Civitas also estimates the Lowry Ranch operations could help fund Arapahoe County more broadly with more than $400 million in public revenues.