A fracking crew member works inside the Halliburton Sandcastle, at an Anadarko Petroleum Corporation site, near Brighton, May 2014. Oil and gas operations are booming in northern Colorado. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
Re: Oil and gas industry should have to play same rules as others, March 20 guest commentary.
I applaud Colorado state Rep. Mike Foote and his constituents on their efforts on the behalf of landowners. There s more than adequate room for oil and gas drilling without using residents front yards or near schools and hospitals. There are places it just doesn t make sense and where it endangers citizens and represents a threat to our health and property values.
The landowners are the stewards for their property and deserve a greater say. We re also the ones who bear that financial burden. I wish Wyoming would join Colorado in a similar effort.
Marilyn Ham, Cheyenne
This letter was published in the March 27 edition.Mike Foote omits some essential facts. Before any permit or drilling, oil companies first lease mineral rights from an owner, often for hundreds or thousands of dollars per acre. Then the only way to get a return on that investment is to drill a well. Mineral owners get a royalty on production, so they also expect drilling.
Would you want to buy a house and then wait months or years for the HOA to decide if they liked you before letting you move in? The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is like that HOA, except by law it sets the rules ahead of time. Few permits are denied because companies meet the requirements if they want to drill.
As for drilling in the middle of a neighborhood or near a school, I understand COGCC s strict setbacks will never be too great for some. But new construction in northern Colorado means neighborhoods are encroaching on decades-old oil and gas fields. Companies legally can continue producing and with new technology may extract even more oil or gas from a lease. But potential homebuyers should know — and developers should share — what are the rights of those companies. Otherwise it s like people who built and bought houses around Denver s old Stapleton airport and then complained about the noise.
Mike Brondos, Centennial
This letter was published in the March 27 edition.
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