The Carbon Valley Conundrum

Young workers have driven the recent boom in Carbon Valley, but oil and gas and mining facilities could disrupt future growth. 

Sami Carroll moved to Colorado’s Carbon Valley from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2008 after visiting the state with her three young children. The family lived in Lafayette and Superior for almost a decade before they decided to build a home in Erie’s Flatiron Meadows neighborhood on the Boulder County side of the city. 

The family instantly fell in love with the beautiful scenery and the open views of the Rocky Mountains. But their excitement faded as Carroll learned more about oil and gas developments in town. 

“There’s so much open space throughout Erie, but then I realized that the reason why that’s open space is because of oil and gas development that was previously on that site that contaminated the soil, or maybe it’s even a former dump or superfund site,” Carroll told Yellow Scene in an interview. 

Carroll has also seen Erie grow significantly in her short time living there. Her neighborhood is now full of young families with children enrolled in the local Boulder County school system. 

However, there are still issues with the oil and gas industry that Erie and other cities in the Carbon Valley are trying to overcome. Recently, Carroll formed an advocacy group called Flatiron Meadows Oil and Gas Monitoring Group. She said it started as a Facebook group for local residents to learn more about a proposed development called the Draco Pad, which could create 26 new fracking wells across 19.4 acres of land in Erie. The development also juts up against the edge of her neighborhood. 

Carroll said the most concerning aspect of the project is that it is five miles long and would have crossed 89 existing oil and gas wells. Thanks partly to Carroll and her neighbors’ advocacy efforts, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) voted unanimously on November 15, 2024, to indefinitely stop the development. However, she still worries about the dangers it could pose to her family and community if it is allowed to move forward later.

“The industry has done a very good job of keeping people in the dark,” Carroll said. 

New oil and gas developments are cropping up across Colorado’s Carbon Valley at a time when the area is seeing significant demand from homeowners looking to escape high-cost urban centers like Denver and Boulder. Home prices and rents in metro areas like Denver and Boulder continue to increase. Denver’s median home price was $580,000 as of December 2024, representing an annual increase of 8.7% and 21.9% since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, according to Redfin. Boulder’s median home price was $917,500 in December 2024, which is up nearly 15% since the pandemic began. Rents in Denver and Boulder have increased by 42% and 60%, respectively, over the same period. 

The Carbon Valley, which stretches from north of E-470 and Highway 287 outside of Lafayette-Erie northeast to Weld County Road 24 outside of the Tri-Towns of Dacono, Frederick, and Firestone, has become a relatively affordable option for homeowners and renters alike. According to an analysis of Census data by the University of Virginia, Millennials and Gen Z workers have flocked to rural areas of Colorado at nearly twice the national rate. 

Attracting younger workers, homeowners, and renters is good for each town in the Carbon Valley because it can sustain future growth. However, these cities face a conundrum that could impair their future development. The area is littered with oil and gas wells and old mining chutes, which have created challenges ranging from soil contamination to poor air quality. Meanwhile, state laws currently don’t require homebuyers to be informed of oil and gas well locations before a deal closes. 

Bobbie Mooney, a staff attorney for 350 Colorado, told YS in an interview that failing to disclose oil and gas well locations threatens homeowners and cities alike. Not only do the wells pose health and safety risks for homebuyers, but they also pose liability risks for cities. 

“We don’t know all the wells and old infrastructure that exists out there,” Mooney said. 

Measuring Carbon Valley’s Growth and Challenges

Colorado’s Carbon Valley earned its name because of its long mining history during the mid-1800s. For instance, the establishment of Briggs Mine led to the plotting of Erie in 1871. Colorado’s first commercial coal mine, known as McKissick Mine, was built in Firestone in 1872. Frederick was home to the largest coal mine ever operated by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, which was controlled by industrial magnates John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould. Dacono joined the mining party after the turn of the 20th Century and was founded by a former mining executive named Charles Baum. 

Those four cities have also seen their populations explode since 2014. Erie’s population has exploded by 118%, according to Census data, with more than 40,000 people living in the city today. Frederick’s population has increased by 43% up to more than 15,000, while the number of people under the age of 18 has more than doubled. A similar story can be told about Firestone, where Millennials make up about one-third of the total population, and Dacono, which has seen its median age decline by 13% to 32.6 over the last decade. 

To capture this demand, large homebuilders like K.B. Homes, Toll Brothers, and D.R. Horton are actively building new subdivisions in these communities. Toll Brothers built Erie Town Center, a series of townhomes and single-family homes that range in price from $540,000 up to more than $726,000. K.B. Homes built the Sweetgrass neighborhood in Dacono, a neighborhood that has more than 1,664 residential units. Meanwhile, D.R. Horton built the Carriage Hills neighborhood in Frederick, which offers three-to-four-bedroom single-family homes up to 2,500 square feet in size, starting at around $510,000. 

These developments have not only brought new people to the area but also increased the average cost of housing locally. Redfin data shows that Frederick’s median home price is up almost 10% year-over-year to $560,000. Dacono’s home prices are up 2% to $485,000; Firestone’s home prices are up 12.7% to more than $600,000, while Erie’s home prices are up about 4% to more than $700,000. 

Continuing to grow these communities could become more difficult if the communities don’t find a way to make new developments compatible with their existing oil, gas, and mining facilities. 

Colorado has pushed back against new oil and gas developments, but the tools at the state’s disposal have not yet limited the growth of new wells, Mooney said. For instance, the state created the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission to regulate the oil and gas industry in a manner that “protects public health, safety, welfare, the environment, and wildlife resources,” according to its website. However, the state still approves more than 1,000 new permit applications per year, Mooney said, which suggests that drilling has not slowed down. 

Meanwhile, the amount of available land in Carbon Valley that does not have oil and gas infrastructure is extremely limited. Cities that are split between Boulder and Weld counties, like Erie, have more available land on the Boulder County side of their jurisdiction, but cities wholly within Weld County have very few parcels that are not impacted by oil and gas developments. 

“What we’re really facing now is this growing conflict between Colorado’s history of allowing really rampant oil and gas extraction all over our beautiful state, with the current expansion and immediate need for more housing and infrastructure for our growing communities,” Mooney said. 

Erie’s oil and gas nightmares

Oil and gas issues have plagued Erie’s growth for several years. 

The town, which is split between Weld and Boulder counties, has two sets of regulations governing its oil and gas operations. This has made it difficult for the town to clean up existing operations and prevent new ones from coming to town when residents oppose them. 

A map from the ECMC shows there are dozens of active wells in Erie, some of which are near schools, doctor’s offices, and residential neighborhoods. Some active wells have leaked and contaminated the ground surrounding Erie homes, causing health issues for local residents. 

Multiple studies have shown that living near active wells can cause increased rates of asthma, immunodeficiency, heart disease, and cancer. 

Erie’s active and abandoned oil wells have also impacted the city’s ability to add new developments at a time when it is experiencing significant growth. 

Recently, Erie residents fended off an oil and gas development known as the Draco Pad, which would have brought 26 fracking wells to Erie. If approved, those wells would have traveled under 20 neighborhoods. 

It took a massive organizing effort from a group called Flatiron Meadows O&G Monitoring Group to stop the development. Erie had no jurisdiction over the project because it was proposed in Weld County, Colorado’s largest oil and gas producer.

“The Draco oil gas drilling plan was really concerning because of the number of legacy old wells and mines in that area that the company was planning to frack through and under,” Mooney said. “The area is already basically Swiss cheese because of the old oil wells.” 

Other oil and gas developments have prevented Erie from building more homes on vacant land. One example is Redtail Ranch, a proposed 290-acre neighborhood that would have brought 898 homes to Erie. There were 32 wells that surrounded the proposed build site, located between Weld County Roads 5 and 6 next to the old Columbine Landfill. 

Developers for the project identified several issues that tie back to nearby oil and gas developments. For instance, an existing gas pipeline along Weld County Road 5 prevented the developers from appropriately sloping one of the access roads to the neighborhood. Another gas line prevented the developers from building a road altogether. Oil and gas activities had also impacted some of the water systems, although engineers noted in a report that it did not contaminate any of the groundwater. 

Residents also noted during a public hearing in November 2024 that there could still be contaminants in the soil from previous oil and gas exploration activities. 

“I don’t see how this development is going to add any value to future Erie residents,” Erie resident Arnold Slabbekoorn told the Town Council. 

Erie rejected the development in July 2024, a move that caused the developers to consider pursuing legal action against the city. 

The Firestone disaster

Instead of choosing between oil and gas and residential developments, Firestone appears to be trying to make both coexist. 

In December, the town struck a $4 million deal with oil and gas operator Kerr-McGee to allow the company to drill three new pad sites near the town’s borders. The deal also included a 78-acre land swap that can be used for future developments. The company also agreed to plug and abandon another 57 wells in town. 

“The oil and gas industry in Weld County and Firestone, we work together,” Firestone Mayor Conyac told the Longmont Times-Call. “We have a good relationship with them.”

If the name Kerr-McGee sounds familiar, it’s because the company controlled a natural gas pipeline in town that was improperly abandoned. That pipeline was likely severed when new homes were built on top of it in 2015, according to a federal report. That severance later caused two homes to explode, which killed two local residents. 

That explosion was the reason why Colorado lawmakers introduced legislation in 2019 to increase the minimum setbacks for oil and gas wells to 2,000 feet from residential homes. 

However, advocates worry that state regulators still don’t have a clear picture of how oil and gas exploration operations could impact future developments. A recent investigation by ECMC revealed that consulting firms falsified data for 350 wells in Weld County alone. Forty-eight of those wells are in the Carbon Valley area. 

“The companies are profiting while Coloradans are left to clean up the messes and deal with the dangers and pollution from too many orphaned and abandoned wells,” Micah Parkin, executive director of 350 Colorado, told Yellow Scene Magazine.

Mine shafts and oil in Frederick

Frederick has been one of the fastest-growing towns in the Carbon Valley, averaging between 6% and 8% growth per year. But numerous oil and gas wells, as well as old mining shafts, stand in the way of the city capturing most of that growth. 

The town has multiple new subdivisions planned for development, including the 319-acre Nelson Farms subdivision and 181-acre Dreamer’s Ridge subdivision. Altogether, those developments are expected to add hundreds of homes for new residents. 

There are also several business centers under development along the Highway 25 corridor, including the Silverstone Marketplace, which will be anchored by a 123,000-square-foot King Soopers. Agilent Technologies, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, has also broken ground on a $725 million facility in the town. 

Even so, there are more than 300 oil and gas wells in Frederick, according to data from the ECMC, many of which do not produce anything. The largest owner of the wells is K.P. Kaufman, also known as KPK, which owns 107 total wells, 95 of which are dormant. 

In 2023, the Colorado Sun reported that KPK and the town of Frederick were in a stalemate over what to do with the wells. The town wanted the wells plugged and abandoned so that it could develop the plots. KPK told the town it wanted $250,000 to $300,000 per well to do so. 

Frederick Mayor Tracie Crites told Yellow Scene Magazine that the ECME is currently adjudicating a claim that would require KPK to plug and abandon its unused wells. The town has also paid to plug and abandon certain wells for Urban Renewal projects in the past, although the cost of doing so typically falls on developers, Crites added. 

Crites said that several current developments could be impacted by old K.P. Kaufman well sites. There’s the Miner’s Town Centre project, a 40-acre mixed-use development that aims to add commercial opportunities and housing for older adults. The 266-acre Miner’s Village neighborhood could also be impacted. 

Crites described the relationship between KPK and the town as one with a “severe disconnect.” 

“I feel Frederick deserves oil and gas operations to be in full compliance, transparent with our community, and held accountable when they fail to meet expectations of responsible operations,” Crites said. “Fortunately, Frederick does have many oil and gas partners that help our community benefit from their operations and continue to produce with respect, care, and responsibility at their forefront; KPK is not one of them.” 

Frederick may also run into some issues stemming from old mine shafts from the former Grant Mine site. The town’s planning commission approved the preliminary plat for a new 28-acre subdivision called Hamilton Heights. The subdivision is expected to bring 122 new homes and one commercial tract to the small town. It is planned to be built adjacent to the Saddleback Golf Course, which was developed on top of the old Grant Mine site. 

Building roads on old mine shafts could present an issue for developers when building new roadways through the subdivision. The city’s staff report says that “appropriate capping” must occur before the project is fully approved. 

Dacono’s future

Dacono’s growth has been a source of controversy in the city over the last several years. 

In 2023, three former Dacono city council members staged a soft coup to try and prevent new developments from coming to town. That effort caused multiple developers to cancel projects and take their business elsewhere. Two of the council members were later recalled because of their stunt, and the third was voted out of office in November 2023. 

Now, Dacono is moving forward and planning for the next two decades of growth. In January, the city released a draft of its City Center plan, which is meant to guide the development of the 157-acre area surrounding the local water tower. 

The plan envisions a downtown replete with residential and retail options. In all, it calls for buildings between 665 and 750 residential units, more than 3,700 new parking spaces, and roughly 68 acres of new park space. There will also be new municipal offices, a library, and new community centers, according to the 83-page plan. The goal is to “create a thriving, interconnected City Center downtown that blends social and cultural values and functionality with community ambitions.”

However, there are four oil and gas facilities in the development area, which could impede its progress. Each site requires a minimum 50-foot setback for new developments, according to Dacono’s development standards. The city’s code also prevents utilities from being within 10 feet of a wellhead, prohibits wellheads from existing on multifamily sites, and requires parks and other public amenities to be well-free.