Postponing discussion about changes to the city’s oil and gas zoning regulations didn’t stop impassioned residents from speaking about the controversial issue this week.
Since it was the last item on the April 16 study session agenda, time ran out before the discussion, but council members said they will talk about it at an April 21 public meeting.
City officials are inviting interested residents to attend that meeting, although they cannot make comments.
A couple of residents from the Murphy Creek neighborhood asked council members on Monday to respond to more than a dozen questions about hydraulic fracturing, the controversial oil drilling technique that is expected to ramp up in areas throughout the city in coming years.
They wanted to know who would be financially liable for compensating residents if adverse health effects and property value losses were to ensue as a result of nearby oil drilling. They also asked other questions concerning public health and safety.
Eight people spoke against fracking and implored city council members to do more to protect residents’ public health, though oil drilling officials have said the hydraulic fracturing technique is decades old and absolutely safe.
The city is considering enacting changes to the existing ordinance that regulates drilling-related land uses.
The draft amendments, unveiled at a February city council meeting, put stricter regulations on oil and gas developers than the city’s current ordinance. The proposal includes requiring oil and gas companies to obtain a conditional use permit if they are considering drilling within 1,000 feet from a residential subdivision. Aurora’s current ordinance allows drilling in all zone districts. Also, it requires the use of best industry practices for water quality monitoring, “green” fracturing fluids and closed-loops systems as well as traffic impact studies and the disclosure of haul routes. Another tenet in the proposal is a requirement that oil and gas developers have an emergency response plan to deal with any hazardous spills, which current ordinances do not require.
For more information about the special study session meeting on April 21, visit auroragov.org. The agenda will be posted on the website by April 18.
The Aurora City Council wants to have their cake and eat it, too. Meaning they want tax revenue from both unrealistically inflated home values as well as drilling activity in the area. But they can’t have it.
No one wants to live in a heavy industrial zone and home values in Aurora will reflect that once the drilling starts. There will be much better places to live on the front range than a fracked-up Aurora.If they try to use phony appraisal values when it comes tax time then everyone has the right to challenge those appraised values. And everyone has the right to foreclose as well. Companies foreclose on other companies all the time, so why can’t individuals foreclose when their government fails to protect their best interests?This city needs to vote out the lackeys on the council. And an aggressive tax protest wouldn’t hurt either. Our country was founded on such things.