‘I Don’t Want Erie to Become a Test Site’: Residents Concerned About Draco Well Pad to Drill Under Their Homes

Update: Public Notice from the ECMC

At the request of Extraction and Petitioner Southern Land Company, the Extraction Draco OGDP hearing will be continued, otherwise known as postponed, one week to November 13, 2024. This has been noted on the ECMC website. The public comment portal for the Draco OGDP remains open on the website as well. 

Photo courtesy of Erie Protectors

The plan includes drilling the longest-ever horizontal wellbores beneath Erie homes, spurring vehement community opposition.

The Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) held a public hearing on Oct. 29 regarding the proposed Draco Well Pad at Erie Middle School. Residents and Erie town representatives voiced concerns about the proposal’s extreme-length wellbores, proximity to residential neighborhoods and existing oil wells, and pollution risks, both in-person and online. 

Civitas Resources, Inc. has been seeking approval to drill 26 wells at the site since January, and the proposal is now awaiting consideration by the ECMC on Nov. 6. 

Historically, permitting decisions have only been denied on the basis of legality and whether the application follows current ECMC rules, not on concerns of nearby communities. The ECMC Director’s recommendation, made available in August, is to approve the Draco plan as it complies with all applicable ECMC rules and requirements. With that positive recommendation, it seems likely to move forward. 

“Erie is no longer undeveloped farmland at the intersection of Weld and Boulder County,” said Erie resident Chris Oliverie. “It’s rapidly expanding. It’s a vibrant community full of citizens that should not have their rights to clean air and environment protection infringed upon by continued heavy industry development.”  

Many Erie residents are against any new drilling in or near the town due to the risks of toxic or carcinogenic air pollution, which can cause health consequences, environmental damage, and heavy machinery disruptions. 

Photo courtesy of Erie Protectors

However, the Draco Well Pad proposal gives many additional pauses because extreme-length 5-mile wellbores will be used to drill horizontally from Weld County into Boulder County. Currently, the longest documented wellbores in the United States measure 21,277 ft, about 4 miles, at the Sacate Sa-2 well in  Santa Ynez, California.

Extreme-reach horizontal drilling creates extreme torque and drag conditions that strain a drilling rig’s operational limits, which can result in “catastrophic events,” according to the International Association of Drilling Contractors. 

“I do not want Erie to become a test site for the unknowns that come with drilling at such extremes,” said Vin Tempo, a Grandview resident. 

Tempo reached out to Civitas to inquire about the company’s experience drilling to this extent but has yet to receive a response. 

Part of the proposal includes plugging and abandoning 22 wells. However, there are also 49 existing plugged and abandoned wells in the proposed drilling site, five of which are of “grave concern” to Erie Director of Environmental Services David Frank. Frank asked the engineers on the project to investigate the wells, and they reached the same conclusion about the risk of drilling near these wells. 

Frank also raised concerns about the presence of the Westerly Neighborhood, which is only 1,500 feet from the Draco Pad, less than the State’s 2,000-foot buffer regulation, put in place for resident safety in 2020. Only five houses in the development are currently occupied, but the neighborhood will see 72 additional homes built in the next three years. 

“What I would ask of the commission is, if Draco is to be approved, that there is a strict three-year time limit on their preoccupation activities,” Frank said. “That all drilling, fracking, flow back, everything will be done within three years. Because at that point, I can no longer prevent these homes from being sold and people living there.” 

The Town of Erie does not have sitting authority on the Draco pad because it is outside town limits, but it is the approximate local government that has some influence on how the project proceeds. 

While Weld County, where the Draco pad is located, is one of the most fracked counties in the U.S. — it’s the largest oil and gas producer in Colorado, with 17,317 active wells as of Sept. 1, 2023 — drilling activities would extend into Boulder County, which hasn’t approved a new drilling application in two decades. 

Drilling this way allows Civitas Resources a loophole to access oil in Boulder County without needing its approval. 

“As a Boulder County resident, I’m horrified that they can get away with drilling over here and going under my house,” said one commenter at the hearing. “As a medical provider, I’m deeply concerned about contamination of groundwater and soil that studies show does occur with fracking.” 

Senate Bill 181, passed in 2019, redefined the ECMC’s mission from “fostering” to “regulating” oil and gas development to protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment, and wildlife resources. The bill was revised to incorporate environmental justice and cumulative impact considerations in 2020. 

Erie CO Councilperson Emily Baer

But those rules need to be stronger to prevent applications like the Draco proposal that circumvent regulations by applying for permits physically outside town limits, said Erie Council Member Emily Baer. 

“Despite our best efforts, the industry circumnavigates our intentions by going just outside our town borders and plans to crack the entire width of our town underneath neighborhoods and through dozens and dozens of plugged and abandoned wells, some located under homes and driveways and mature trees and rose bushes and backyards,” Baer said. 

Erie residents are already familiar with the consequences of fracking close to their homes, noting odd smells, haze, and dust during active drilling or remediation operations.  The Town of Erie posts public notifications about oil and gas operations and has reported 21 spill and release events since 2022. 

However the process of tracking and reporting these events is complicated for Erie. Civitas, as a private company, is only required to communicate well-related information to the state and can choose to communicate with the town if it wants, meaning the town may find out about a leak or spill months after the fact or not at all. 

Erie CO Mayor Justin Brooks

“I often get the reports from the ECMC when those happen, and often those are long after they’ve actually been spilled,” said Mayor Justin Brooks. “We have very little data on how much, how long they will be down, and while that is taking place, operations continue.” 

These operational snags worry residents that problems from new drilling won’t be uncovered or addressed until the damage has already occurred. Earthquakes induced by fracturing activity and water pollution from contaminated groundwater runoff were top concerns raised in the hearing. 

Deborah Segaloff, a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility Colorado (PSR), highlighted the health impacts that fracking can have on a community. PSR’s data shows that 30,000 residents would be exposed to hazardous air pollutants, including known carcinogens. 

Checking for leaks, Erie, CO

Long-term exposure to hazardous pollutants can contribute to higher risks of cancer, childhood asthma, premature births, stillbirths, and other high-risk births, birth defects, and hospitalization for cardiac, neurological, urological, cancer-related, and skin-related problems, Segaloff said. 

Now, residents are left waiting to find out what the ECMC will decide about the Draco pad proposal and the fate of their neighborhood. 

“Sidelining an entire community’s wishes when there is not an urgent need proves to me that there is no line that oil and gas development won’t cross,” said Grandview resident Sarah Kornerly.

Local Erie residents speak out. Will the ECMC hear them?

Update as of 11/1/24 2:30 p.m.:

At the request of both the Extraction and Petitioner of the Southern Land Company, the Draco OGOP Commission hearing will be continued (postponed) to November 13th, 2024.