Members of the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission listened to public comments from opponents of a major oil and gas drilling plan on the state-owned Lowry Ranch property in Arapahoe County during a hearing on May 16, 2024. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
Colorado regulators this week could decide the fate of an oil and gas extraction plan on a large tract of state-owned land east of Aurora, in one of the highest-profile tests to date of the stricter drilling rules enacted under a 2019 health and safety law.
The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, a five-member panel that oversees oil and gas operations within the state, is weighing whether to approve a 32,000-acre “comprehensive area plan” that would streamline permitting for seven drilling locations proposed by Denver-based Civitas Resources, the state’s third-largest oil and gas company.
Most of the area in question consists of the sprawling Lowry Ranch property, a former U.S. Air Force missile launch site and gunnery range acquired by the Colorado State Land Board in the 1960s. Limited drilling in the area has taken place since the Land Board first issued a lease for oil and gas development on the property in 2012, but Civitas aims to fast-track the development of 156 new wells over the next six years through the approval of the CAP.
The project is staunchly opposed by environmental groups and hundreds of nearby residents, who fear the impacts and risks of a plan that calls for drilling thousands of feet under the Aurora Reservoir and several southeast Aurora subdivisions. They’re also worried about the proximity of the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site, on the northwest corner of the project area. Civitas has agreed not to drill under the Superfund site at the Environmental Protection Agency’s request.
Citing that and other commitments and concessions made by Civitas since the company submitted its application in 2022, ECMC staff last month recommended the CAP’s approval. The State Land Board hasn’t taken a formal position on the CAP but says the additional drilling under the terms of its lease could raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Colorado schools.
A final decision will be made by ECMC commissioners following a split two-day hearing on the plan this week. The hearing is scheduled to continue Friday.
