Following the recent state approval of Ursa Operating Company’s latest drilling plan at Battlement Mesa, three area environmental groups are going before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Monday to try to reverse the decision.
Western Colorado Alliance, along with the Grand Valley Citizen’s Alliance and the Battlement Concerned Citizens based in Garfield County, have submitted a hearing request to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to review the recent decision to permit Ursa’s Pad A proposal.
The organizations are calling on the new administration of Gov. Jared Polis and the new heads of the Department of Natural Resources and COGCC to reverse the decision to permit more drilling in Battlement Mesa. The permit was approved earlier this month for the second phase of oil and gas development in the unincorporated community south of Parachute.
“We are hopeful that the new administration will take another look at this dangerous proposal and see the hazards that would plague our community for many years to come – long after Ursa is gone,”Dave Devanney of Battlement Concerned Citizens said. “It deserves full scrutiny before the Commission.”
The groups are calling it the “worst drilling application in the state.” The plan puts 24 natural gas wells, a wastewater injection well and other facilities 500 feet from a mobile park neighborhood, and even closer to Battlement Mesa’s wastewater treatment plant. The pad would also be about 900 feet from the Colorado River, and would dig 90 feet into a hillside below the mobile home park.
The coalition of groups say they are considering all options as they move forward, but maintain their position that A pad is “one of the most reckless proposals in the state, and an egregious example of how the oil and gas regulatory system is failing to protect the public health of the people of Colorado by permitting huge industrial projects within neighborhoods,” according to a news release.
“Approving this drilling application presents a clear and present danger to the entire Battlement Mesa community,” Devanney said. “The risk is too great for an industrial accident to damage some of the essential municipal infrastructure. If the state approves this type of project it will set a dangerous precedent for other communities around the state of Colorado.”
Added Leslie Robinson, Grand Valley Citizens Alliance chairwoman, “GVCA members are especially concerned about the engineering analysis on the retaining wall that is supposed to keep the hillside from collapsing on the rig and wastewater treatment plant just below it. The COGCC should have considered the wall be built first to determine the safety of the pad location before approving Form 2A,” Grand Valley Citizens Alliance chair Leslie Robinson said.
“Battlement Mesa residents are surrounded by hundreds of wells, in various stages of production,” Robinson also stated in the release. “The COGCC failed to take into account the cumulative effects upon citizen health caused by multiple fracked wells. With the many odor complaints generated when other pads were developed within Battlement neighborhoods, this means there’s something seriously wrong with drilling too close to homes that the COGCC did not consider when they approved Pad A.”
Residents of the area have made numerous complaints about odors, traffic and noise during the first phase of development already under way in the community. Robinson will be traveling to Denver on Monday to make the request in person at the COGCC meeting.