AURORA, Colo — Colorado’s oversight agency for oil and gas operations has approved a sprawling fracking plan, known as the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan, which was strongly opposed by community members who live nearby.
Civitas, one of Colorado’s biggest oil and gas operators, submitted the plan to the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) 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.”
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The state commissioners approved the plan in a 3-1 vote Wednesday. The approval includes conditions meant to address community concerns, including that Civitas must use emissions-reducing electric drilling equipment.
The Lowry Ranch plan includes proposals to drill nearly 160 wells east of the Aurora Reservoir, neighborhoods and schools. This is the fourth comprehensive area plan approved in Colorado. The operator will still be required to file applications for each of its well sites. The state has approved all previous well-site applications by CAP recipients. However, in this case, the commission has left the option open to deny some permits for well pads proposed closest to neighborhoods.
The Lowry Ranch plan is named for the state-owned prairie lands where the well pads are proposed. Colorado’s State Land Board leases the land and mineral rights there 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.
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Many community members living nearby the proposed well sites have raised concerns about potential health risks and environmental harms. Their grassroots group, Save the Aurora Reservoir (STAR), participated in the state's hearings to oppose the plan.
“We are devastated by the Commission’s decision to approve the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan,” said STAR President Marsha Goldsmith Kamin. “This is without doubt the wrong decision for the health, safety, and environment of our community.”
"We will continue to monitor the project and will elevate community concerns throughout the life of this comprehensive area plan," said STAR founder Kevin Chan.
Julie Huygen, a Sierra Club member in Colorado, said the ECMC's decision to approve the plan ignored "the will of the people." Instead of "protecting public health, safety, welfare, wildlife, and the environment, they have chosen to put billions of dollars in the pockets of oil and gas and take that money from Coloradans who will be stuck paying the costs of fracking our homes and schools and for the pollution in the water we drink, and the air we breathe," she said.
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“This CAP approval is the result of thorough work by the Civitas team and extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure the safe development of Colorado’s important natural resources, while protecting the environment and minimizing impacts to our communities," said Civitas' Chief Operating Officer Hodge Walker. "Watkins is a prolific development area within the DJ Basin, and we look forward to beginning drilling in the Lowry Ranch area next year.”
More broadly, oil and gas industry representatives, including the American Petroleum Institute's Colorado division, are celebrating the approval.
"This decision to approve the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan exemplifies that through hard work and due diligence from our operators, Colorado is still open for business," said Kait Schwartz, director of API Colorado. She said since Colorado lawmakers passed "one of the most stringent regulatory frameworks in the country" in 2019, "our industry has diligently worked to meet these high standards over the past five years."
Schwartz said throughout the review process for the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan it was "disappointing and revelatory that despite meeting each requirement set forth in local and state law, including Senate Bill 19-181, there was still significant resistance from individuals and organizations who crafted those very laws."
"This application and decision should serve as a model for addressing future projects, and we look forward to ongoing cooperation with state agencies, stakeholders, and the public to ensure we operate responsibly and comply with our state’s increasingly ambitious standards," she said.
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