State commission weighs plan to frack near former Lowry Landfill on 1st day of hearing

AURORA | State regulators heard from an oil and gas producer looking to drill new wells east of Aurora on Tuesday as well as area residents concerned about the project’s proximity to the Aurora Reservoir and the contaminated site of the former Lowry Landfill.

Members of the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission didn’t make a decision on the plan Tuesday — a vote is expected Aug. 2, when the hearing is scheduled to resume — but listened to hours of testimony revolving around whether Civitas Resources has done enough to protect residents and the environment.

The Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan submitted by Civitas would facilitate the development of as many as 166 wells across 10 new or expanded well sites.

“The Lowry Ranch CAP is evidence of Civitas’ intention to develop this area in the proper and most protective manner,” said an attorney for the company, Jamie Jost, who also said Civitas “fully recognizes and accepts the obligations to the communities that accompany its license to operate.”

Wells would extend horizontally beneath about 50 square miles of land controlled by the Colorado State Land Board, and Civitas would extract oil and gas using the technique of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, which uses high-pressure jets of water, sand and chemicals to break apart rocks containing fossil fuels deep underground.

In the case of the Lowry Ranch project, the rock to be fracked is located more than a mile below the surface.

However, the project has generated pushback from nearby Aurora residents concerned about the process polluting reservoir water and interfering with efforts to contain the groundwater and soil tainted by toxic waste that was dumped decades ago at Lowry.

Save The Aurora Reservoir, an advocacy group representing some of the residents opposed to the project, accused the oil and gas producer of taking only superficial steps to protect the environment while presenting to commissioners on Tuesday.

“Mostly what we ask you, the commissioners, to consider throughout this hearing is whether this CAP actually protects public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife,” said attorney Michael Foote, representing the group. “It clearly doesn’t.”

Jost and others described how Civitas has changed the proposed layout of its operations to respond to concerns about sites being close to the reservoir and other sensitive areas, and also how it has agreed not to drill beneath the Lowry Landfill.

Individuals involved in the project also spoke about efforts to mitigate noise and plans to monitor the area around the wells for pollutants and impacts on wildlife, and stressed that well pads were thousands of feet from homes and complied with legal guidelines.

Jost and Christel Koranda of the state land board also pointed out that funds raised by the land board’s lease to Civitas would benefit schools, including those in Arapahoe County, with Jost calling the property a “prime location” for that reason.

Foote countered by saying the information supplied by Civitas pertaining to the environmental impacts of the project was not trustworthy and that it was impossible to verify some of the data, including data on the seismic activity that could result from fracking.

He also said the company was not specific enough when describing how it will test groundwater and manage truck traffic, and he urged the commission to reject or at least stay the plan.

“The commission’s mission is to protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife, and this cap application just doesn’t do that,” Foote said.

The hearing lasted all day Tuesday, with commissioners hearing opening statements from Jost and Foote as well the testimony of industry professionals who were called on by Civitas to explain how the company has updated its plans over time to incorporate the feedback of neighbors and other government entities. Foote and commissioners also had the opportunity to question Civitas’ witnesses.

On Friday, starting at 9 a.m., Save the Aurora Reservoir will present to the commission and call its own experts to testify, followed by questions, closing statements and deliberation by the commission.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners voted 3-1 to not hear a presentation from Maverick Mineral Partners, another oil and gas operator that raised concerns about the Lowry Ranch drilling impacting its ability to use its own mineral rights in the area.

Area residents previously spoke out against the project during multiple public hearings held prior to Tuesday.

The pushback also prompted U.S. Rep. Jason Crow to pen a July 15 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency in which he asked how the Civitas project might impact the containment of polluted water and soil beneath the Lowry Landfill and what a “scientifically-based” buffer zone around the site would look like.

READ THE FULL RESPONSE TO REP. JASON CROW HERE

The cleanup of the former landfill site has been facilitated in part by the agency’s “Superfund” program.

KC Becker — administrator of the EPA’s Region 8 — which includes Colorado, responded to Crow’s letter on Tuesday, writing that the agency wasn’t aware of comparable fracking proposals near Superfund sites and that it had pushed Civitas not to develop under the landfill.

However, Becker said the agency was “confident that contamination at the site is contained and that the remedy remains protective of human health and the environment.”