AURORA | Oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips has applied to drill five wells closer to Aurora homes than ever before. If approved, the wells would be as close as 1,700 feet from homes in the Murphy Creek subdivision.
City staff have received five new permit applications from ConocoPhillips this year and three that are planned to follow from the company, according to documents from a June 5 planning policy committee meeting.
Aurora city planner Stephen Rodriguez said the permits haven’t been approved and that ConocoPhillips still has to pay fees before the five new drilling sites receive the official OK from city planners.
None of the sites would trigger a planning commission review, according to the city’s oil and gas regulations. That would require a well site or an oil and gas facility to be within 1,000 feet of a residence, city-owned park, reservoir, open space, or golf course, in which case the developer has to obtain additional permits.
In 2012, the city drafted new rules for oil and gas development that instituted the 1,000-foot setback. The rules also require developers to build new homes at least 150 feet away from an oil well, and that owners within one-half mile of a proposed site are notified before drilling begins.
Aurora resident Sonia Skakich-Scrima said the rules favor oil and gas companies over residents. Skakich-Scrima is a member of “What The Frack? Arapahoe,” a group that has spent several years trying to convince council members to halt oil and gas development in the city.
She pointed to loose language in the city’s regulations for drilling, and said the process includes little public involvement in the permit approval process.
“We would like to see Aurora take another look at the ordinances. They are at minimum what the state requires,” she said.
She said she attended an open house meeting ConocoPhillips held for Murphy Creek residents earlier this winter as a way to learn about the new drilling permits.
“There were several people from Murphy creek who requested for ConocoPhillips to do air quality monitoring to assure them the new wells would not be emitting toxic emissions in their vicinity,” she said. “It looked like a community responsiveness-type meeting, but we haven’t seen any sign of actual responsiveness.”
Jim Lowry, a spokesperson for ConocoPhillips said the company held nine public meetings for Murphy Creek residents about the new permit applications. He said the company adheres to all state regulations regarding air quality.
“We want to be a good neighbor. We want to provide accurate information about what we’re doing,” he said.
Aurora cannot ban oil and gas drilling or hydraulic fracturing, but it does jointly regulate the industry with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The COGCC has the authority to regulate oil and gas drilling, while the city can regulate the land use impacts of drilling, such as truck traffic. State laws do not allow cities to interfere with operational or technical aspects of oil and gas development.
Rodriguez said Aurora has not experienced issues with clogged streets and highways from large trucks and heavy drilling equipment accessing the well sites. He said the new sites planned near Murphy Creek would use haul routes similar to the approved sites where trucks use backroads, and avoid major highways like E-470.
Since 2012, Aurora has approved seven oil and gas drilling permit applications. Of those seven permits, only one well owned by Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. located just south of Front Range Airport, is producing oil, he said.
Giving municipalities more control over the oil and gas industry is the aim of 11 controversial statewide measures that could be on the November ballot. Skakich-Scrima said one of the measures, Initiative 75, would enable cities and counties create their own oil and gas rules, regardless of state law.
“It’s taken a lot of work to put some pressure on the governor to change Colorado laws and make sure local communities have more rights to establish greater distances and to ban (fracking),” she said.
It is not the drilling, it is the TRILLIONS of gallons of water that is forever removed from the cycle….in the best case scenario.
In reality, this tainted water is making its way back into the system.
We can not afford to trade water for oil.
Sonia doesn’t even live in Murphy Creek. She’s lives miles away. Why is this any business of hers? Sounds like a political activist who wants to ban oil and gas.
Air and water pollution does not restrict itself to subdivision lines.
The arrogance of the gas industry spokespeople I have heard and some of the TV commercials I have seen fuel my distrust of the fracking industry. A TV commercial that has run for many months features a rancher, who admitted has been struggling financially to keep the ranch in the family (therefore her judgement is skewed) says “fracking is safe.” No admission that there are risks and rewards. But for most people the rewards may outweigh the risks. When confronted in a public meeting, the response I have gotten from gas people, is that their safety procedures are so good they will detect a possible problem before it happens, and stop work, because the health and welfare of mankind is the uppermost priority of people in the gas producing industry. My concerns of the profit motive, and the desire of workers to keep their jobs are imaginary. I should not waste my energy, as a layperson, worrying about things gas industry professionals are experts about. Industry safety standards are higher than those of the Environmental Protection Agency, which should not be wasting taxpayer money regulating the gas production industry. This is the position of an industry that is so arrogrant, it seems to go out of it’s way to antagonize the public by
drilling close to schools, then pointing out that is legal, when challenged by concerned citizens. Some in the gas industry even started a well close to the home of US Representative Jared Polis. If people in the gas industry have such bad judgement, so as to “get in the face” of their critics in this manner, why should I trust their technical judgement to drill and produce wisely and safely?