How close is too close?

512 feet. This is how close Ursa Resources wants to drill 24 natural gas wells next to a home in Battlement Mesa, just barely over the minimum distance required by the state to "protect" homes from drilling operations.

If granted, this decision will set a dangerous precedent for the rest of Colorado, sending a clear message to other Colorado communities that it is "business as usual" and neighborhoods across the state are still defenseless in the face of oil and gas interests.

Will you help us keep up the fight for public health and safety by contributing to our Battlement Mesa Community Defense Fund? Even $5 will help us keep going in this David vs. Goliath struggle. The COGCC has the power to deny this entire proposal, even at this stage of the game. However, it has not denied a new permit in 20 years. We can stop that trend here. Even the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment has stated that 500 feet is too close to drill. Battlement Mesa residents are determined to protect their homes. And by standing up for public health and safety in western Colorado, they are standing up for protections for all Colorado residents.

What's the story?

• "Pad A” in Battlement Mesa is possibly the most reckless drilling proposal in the state and will bring in an additional 24 wells, a toxic wastewater injection well, and tanks close to Battlement Mesa homes.
• The Colorado River, which supplies municipal water for 40 million people, is within 1,000 feet of the proposed Pad A, with a river slough just 660 feet away.
• State law requires a minimum setback of 500 feet from homes. After a year long fight, Ursa finally moved some of their equipment further away from homes to comply, but just barely. Equipment will be as close as 512 feet to homes.
• The well pad location is 900 feet from the water treatment plant that provides clean drinking water to the Battlement community. Approval now would allow other municipal water resources to be endangered by future variances from the COGCC.
• There have been numerous complaints about unpleasant and potentially hazardous odors, traffic, and noise during the first phase of development already underway in the community. Ursa has also recently reported a spill resulting from an overturned truck within the community.
• This is one of the first “Large Urban Mitigation Area” (LUMA) drilling proposals in Colorado. The Governor’s Task Force created the LUMA regulations specifically to avoid urban areas – not to target them. What happens here will have repercussions in other urban and residential areas.
• Although LUMA regulations call for companies to conduct analysis on other potential sites of lesser impact, the COGCC has not required Ursa to consider other locations. This makes a mockery of the LUMA regulations.
• And there’s a fracking wastewater injection well! Ursa is also planning a fracking wastewater injection well on the well Pad A.
• Ursa Resources has misled residents and failed to notify adjacent mobile home owners of this proposal as required by law, and was required to resubmit its proposal when locals filed a complaint with the COGCC.
• After years of delay, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission partially approved the A Pad in the 11th Hour of the Hickelooper administration, before Gov. Polis and the new COGCC Director Jeff Robbins had a chance to review the permits. Pad A is the first permit approved under the new
• In January, COGCC turned down a request from Battlement residents for a full hearing on the application, Battlement Mesa Concerned Citizens and Grand Valley Citizens Alliance brought suit against the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in Denver District Court to request the court intervene. We now await the court's decision.