Property owners in Adams and Weld counties are mobilizing to fight a plan for more oil and natural-gas drilling.
More than 100 landowners have retained an attorney to contest the proposal by three of Colorado’s largest energy firms that could increase drilling by as much as twice the current volume.
The dispute is the latest to arise over a now-familiar Colorado conundrum: the need for new energy supplies versus property owners’ desire to have their land left alone.
Adding drama to the drilling flare-up is the encroachment of real estate development into Front Range farmlands that previously were more accommodating to energy development.
“It’s a dilemma for us,” said Don Finley of Thornton-based real estate development firm Finley & Co. “It would certainly hurt our ability to earn a profit on our projects.”
Finley’s firm develops large-lot homesites – from one-half acre to 5 acres – in Adams and Weld counties.
Increasing the density of oil and gas wells would force Finley to decrease the density of his homesites, thus cutting into what he says are thin profit margins.
In a proposal to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, energy firms EnCana, Kerr-McGee and Noble Energy seek to drill more wells in an area roughly bounded by Byers on the east, Interstate 25 on the west, Denver International Airport on the south, and Fort Collins on the north.
Landowner attorney Lance Astrella said the plan would allow energy firms to drill a well on every 20 acres instead of the currently permitted 40 acres.
Energy industry officials, using a different interpretation of state regulations, say the change would not be so great, reducing well densities from 32 acres to 20 acres.
The proposal has brought together an unusual mix of opponents, including environmental advocacy groups, real estate developers and farmers.
“This is another example of industry changing the rules in the middle of the game to the detriment of private landowners and the environment,” said Elise Jones, executive director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition.
Yet Colorado law grants the owners of sub-surface minerals the virtually inviolable right to develop the resources, regardless of who owns the surface property.
“The mineral estate carries with it a right to reasonable use of the surface so that the resource can be developed as much as possible,” said Greg Schnacke, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission.
“The irony here is that you need this (additional) energy to power the homes that are being built near the well sites,” he said.
EnCana spokesman Doug Hock said the energy firm will continue its policy of working with surface landowners to mitigate the impact of drilling.
“We prefer to come to an agreement that works for both parties,” he said. “We want to be good neighbors.”
A hearing on the drilling proposal is set for Aug. 15.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
