A Denver-based oil exploration company will have the right to file an appeal after its proposal for the additional drilling and hydraulic fracturing of some 18 wells was rejected.
The project, located near the cities of Broomfield and Erie in the north central part of the state, belongs to Extraction Oil and Gas, Incorporated.
A subsidiary of the larger Civitas Resources, which also has offices in Denver, Extraction Oil and Gas had actually received preliminary approval for the project from the Energy and Carbon Management Commission in 2017.
That approval was granted some two years before the Colorado State Legislature passed a bill placing restrictions on exploration projects that will be built near residential areas.
Extraction Oil and Gas argued that such restrictions did not apply to what is known as its Coyote Trails multi-well plan because the original approval predated the state legislative action.
But members of the ECMC disagreed, particularly asserting that a requirement that the company document that its project is safe had not been satisfied.
Remarked commission member John Messner: “I don’t believe the applicant met its burden in showing that what’s being proposed is the protection of public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources.”
The commission action comes as the body itself is facing an April deadline by state law to specifically spell out a definition of the cumulative effects of any proposed drilling project.
A working draft by the commission released in late January proposes looking at the “air quality, water quality, the climate, noise, odor, wildlife and biological” impact within one mile of a drilling project.
Extraction has not yet announced its plans for the Coyote Trails project in the wake of the ECMC decision.
By Garry Boulard
