A new proposed oil and gas well pad location in Battlement Mesa on the Western Slope receives the dubious distinction of being the WORST drilling and fracking application in memory.

If the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) agrees to waive setback distance rules for this proposal they will establish a lasting statewide precedent for industrial drilling and fracking in residential communities.

Help us make this the first oil and gas drilling/fracking application that the COGCC denies in 20 years by submitting a comment to their board. Scroll below to send a comment to the COGCC.

If the COGCC approves this variance in Battlement Mesa, your home and neighborhood could be subjected to the same treatment by other drillers.

What’s the story?

• • The operator, Ursa Resources, is proposing 24 gas wells and tanks as close as 340 feet from the closest home.
  • State law requires a minimum 500 feet setback from homes. Yet, Ursa is requesting a VARIANCE from the COGCC to drill much closer than the state law allows. The COGCC has the authority to grant or deny this exemption from the rules. Will they ever say no to a bad proposal, or will industry get what it wants every time?
  • If approved, the 24 well “Pad A” in Battlement Mesa will be within 340 feet of one home, 500 feet of seven homes and 1,000 feet of 51 homes in the Tamarisk Village mobile home park where working families and retirees live.
  • The Colorado River, which supplies municipal water for 40 million people, is within 1,000 feet of the proposed new well Pad A, with a river slough just 660 feet away.
  • 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.
  • 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.

For more on Ursa’s lacking notification of Battlement Mesa residents, read this article in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT

The COGCC comments website is cumbersome and prone to malfunction. Western Colorado Congress is collecting comments, and volunteers will work to submit them into the COGCC system on your behalf.

Please email your comments to ursacomments@westerncoloradoalliance.org

Please also consider sending a copy of your comments to Governor John Hickenlooper. The Governor needs to know what his administration is doing to the people of Colorado.

Thank you! For questions, please contact ursacomments@westerncoloradoalliance.org

SAMPLE COMMENTS

Your full name: ______________________________________________
Address/City/Zip/State: ________________________________________
Preferred contact email: ________________________________________

Please deny the Ursa Resources Pad A Location permit (Form 2A) in Garfield County, Colorado. Dense residential developments, such as the Tamarisk Village mobile home park, should not be targeted for oil and gas development. Since the Firestone oil and gas explosion in April took two lives, there have been more than a dozen additional fires and explosions at oil and gas locations throughout Colorado. Colorado should require greater setbacks than 500 feet – especially when there are multiple wells – especially when the wells are proposed near a neighborhood.

Public health and safety should not be sacrificed for the oil and gas industry. Pad A’s proximity to the Colorado River and community water management facilities is simply unacceptable anywhere in Colorado.

Other talking points ideas: How would you feel if this happened in your area? What message is the COGCC sending to communities around the state if it grants a setback exemption for this proposal?