[Updated] Highway 7 Coalition, Others Urge Delay of Erie Board of Trustees Vote on Crestone Operator Agreement: Letter

A local group of concerned citizens and activist groups, including the Highway 7 Coalition, have sent a letter dated November 3 to the Town of Erie Board of Trustees requesting that they, “cease consideration of adopting the proposed Amended and Restated Operator Agreement with Crestone Peak Resources LLC (Operator Agreement)”. The Board of Trustees has planned a new vote for November 4 at 2 pm in council chambers. This meeting is a mere five days after the board voted down the agreement and only two days before votes on relevant propositions, including 2500′ setbacks (proposition 112) and state compensation for owners decreased poperty value due to state regulation (proposition 74). Trustee Haid posted a list of updates to the operator agreement since the October 30 vote on his official Facebook page, viewable here.

Citing valid concerns about the appropriate handling of the public process, including issues around transparency, concerns that the operator agreement is being pushed through in advance of the November 6th democratic election, and does not meet health and safety conditions to protect the community, they make a compelling case citing Colorado open meeting laws and clear public health and safety concerns in areas around nuisance, including dust, odor, vibration, and noise. The group also address risk analysis and setback distances and a failure of the best management practices, claiming they “do not adequately address the increased concerns for large-scale oil and gas operations in close proximity to densely populated communities”. Also at issue, shallow mines in the are, which have previously resulted in subsidence in the area, and the communities right of protest.

The Highway 7 Coalition, according to the letter, has “a long-term vision to make Highway 7 safer, reduce traffic congestion, and introduce more public transportation options as communities served by Hwy 7 continue to grow”. Concluding with issues around emergency preparedness and due process, the letter is signed by:

Erie Health and Safety

Democrats at Anthem Ranch

301 Broomfield Health and Safety First

Broomfield Clean Air and Water

One Broomfield Indivisible

Broomfield Concerned: A Coalition of Neighborhoods

Broomfield Moms Active Community, and

League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans

We’ll be the first to point out that the majority of community organizations signed on to this letter are not Erie community organizations, but organizations from the City of Broomfield. We absolutely agree that Broomfield has a right to be invested in the machinations of adjacent towns, especially when atmospheric geometry show us that airflow and proximity to Broomfield makes probability of substantial Broomfield impact a likelihood. We would, however, like to see an increase in Erie organizations taking this stand and taking the lead in opposing the Board of Trustees’ attempts to push through the operator agreement so soon after a no vote from the board and so soon until do the November 6 election, which can and will have substantial impact on the power of oil and gas operators in the state of Colorado, notably here in Erie and Weld County.