Arapahoe County residents who live near Aurora Reservoir on Tuesday won the right to intervene in state hearings and challenge a plan to drill 166 oil and gas wells on the nearby, state-owned Lowry Ranch.
The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission unanimously voted to permit Save the Aurora Reservoir, a grass-roots group, to participate in the hearing over the objections of the oil and gas operator Crestone Peak Resources.
The ECMC granted “affected person” status to the group. It is the first time the commission has granted that status to residents in an approval hearing for an oil and gas comprehensive area plan or CAP.
The affected-person status is primarily for people living within 2,000-foot state setback for drilling operations or those demonstrating a unique impact from the proposed oil and gas operation.
“I believe courts look at standing more from the perspective to allow standing if there are allegations of injury,” ECMC Chairman Jeff Robbins said. “I would allow STAR.” The three other commissioners agreed.
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In its petition, 12 STAR families outline their concerns about the impacts of the proposed oil and gas plan on air quality, the use of the reservoir and surrounding area for recreation and their children who go to school within the drilling area.
“A list of concerns does not equal standing,” Jamie Jost, an attorney for Crestone, told the commission. “None of the listed STAR members is within 2,000 feet. … None of them are even within 3,000 feet.”
Mike Foote, STAR’s attorney, said that the petitioners all live and recreate in the area, with some having children and jobs in the CAP.
“There is something that is not right about it,” Foote said, referring to the CAP. “It is not protective.”
Crestone Resources, a subsidiary of Denver-based Civitas Resources, one of state’s largest oil and gas producers, is proposing a comprehensive area plan to drill up to 166 horizontal wells on 32,000 acres of state and private land.
The CAPs were added to the commission’s revised rules as a way to better assess, coordinate and manage the cumulative impacts of large-scale drilling plans.
As part of the Lowry Ranch CAP, Crestone has committed to using a suite of “best management practices” to reduce emission and wastes and lessen impacts on the surrounding areas.
Julie Murphy, the ECMC director, has recommended that the commission approve the CAP.
About 26,000 acres of the 32,000 acres in the Crestone CAP are state holdings overseen by the Colorado State Land Board.
In a presentation to the commission, Christel Koranda, the land board’s minerals director, said that Lowry Ranch was the single biggest generator of revenues among the board’s holdings having already yielded more than $200 million in payments and is projected to provide another $300 million in the coming years.
There are more than a dozen different leases on the ranch already including ones for agriculture, solar energy and oil and gas drilling. Crestone already operates 17 wells on the ranch and has paid $73 million in royalties and $137 million in bonuses, according to the land board.
The hearing, which began Tuesday, is scheduled to conclude during a second session on Friday.