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A Colorado oil and gas company has refiled a drilling plan for 166 wells over 50 square miles in Aurora, Colorado's third-largest city, near a reservoir and a Superfund site. The Lowry Ranch project, proposed by operator Civitas, would involve fracking for oil and gas on land owned by the Colorado State Land Board near the Lowry Landfill Superfund site, the Aurora Reservoir, and suburban neighborhoods. The original plan, filed in 2022, raised concerns that millions of gallons of toxic chemicals, currently contained in unlined trenches, could be disturbed by fracking and leak into the nearby reservoir, among other possible eventualities.
While the revised plan attempts to respond to questions raised by regulators, including a new commitment from Civitas not to drill directly below the Superfund site, the plan remains concerning to community members. Under the proposed plan, drill pads could be as close as two miles to the boundary of the Superfund site, and horizontal drilling could bring pipes even closer. Drilling could occur within one mile of existing homes.
Now that the new drilling plan has been filed, a public comment period will be open until April 23, and the Energy and Carbon Management Commission will hold a hearing on the proposal on June 26. Meanwhile, Arapahoe County plans to review updated rules governing fracking and wastewater injection. These rules follow an earlier set of rules the county passed in November 2023, partially in response to Civitas's original drilling plan filed in 2022. A state law passed in 2019 overhauled how Colorado regulates oil and gas development, including giving local governments greater authority to regulate oil and gas development within their jurisdictions.
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Allowing one more data center to come to our state is an easy but stupid decision in a lot of cases. It’s like the cotton candy of economic development.”
