Category Archives: New Ft Collins O&G regs

The O&G policies of the Fort Collins City Council: a setback or a step forward?

The Larimer Alliance has been closely monitoring the evolving policies of the City Council as they develop specific rules around how to address past and possible future oil and gas (O&G) facilities inside the city limits. Closely related are the O&G policies adopted by the Larimer County Commissioners.

The latest news is that the Council has nearly completed its rules about setbacks with regards to existing O&G wells. Setbacks, of course, refers to how close new O&G facilities (oil wells, storages tanks or pipelines) are allowed to be constructed next to homes or buildings or other outdoor facilities (parks, bike paths, etc); and reverse setbacks refers to how close such homes, etc. are allowed to be built to existing O&G facilities.

There was a ‘first reading’ on September 5, 2023, where an initial vote was taken, and the ‘second reading’ will be at the next Council meeting on September 19. The vote at this second reading will be final, and will establish the land use code governing setbacks and O&G facilities, disclosures.

There was a good summary of the issue in an article in the September 8, 2023 Coloradoan. (“Fort Collins continues oil and gas regulation: Here’s what reverse setbacks look like“) In summary, the Council recommended a 2,000 foot setback for producing wells, a 500 foot setback for abandoned wells that have not been plugged (“reclaimed”), and a 150 foot setback for plugged and abandoned wells (“fully reclaimed”). The only change from current rules is that the setback for producing wells was increased from 500 to 2,000 feet.

At our last count (see this map on the LA website), there are 113 producing wells in the county, none of which, I believe, are inside the city. So, the issue could be seen as a ‘tempest in a tea cup’, which has a small chance of ever happening. There are just a handful of plugged and abandoned, or even ‘temporarily abandoned’, inside city limits, as recorded on the other maps on our website.

Despite the low probability of any new wells getting drilled here, the LA sent the following letter to the Council on September 1, 2023:

Subject: Larimer Alliance Statement on Draft Reverse Setback Standards for Oil and Gas Sites
Mayor Arndt and City Council Members:

We are aware that on September 5 Fort Collins City Council will be conducting a first reading on Land Use Code recommendations from Planning Staff regarding reverse setbacks of property developments from existing oil and gas sites. We have been part of the deliberations with your staff and appreciate their continued involvement in our participation in this process. We have also made our concerns known before the Planning and Zoning Commission when they reviewed the Staff recommendations in their July 17 meeting. 

We have received a copy of the proposed regulations from Kirk Longstein in the Planning Department, and want to comment again on the recommendations presented in that document. We have attached it here again for your review, although we are aware you will have it in your files already. 

Our concerns focus on three main areas of interest:

  1. Setbacks. We support the proposed inclusion of all buildings (not only residential properties) in the setback. However, the setback should be designated to the property boundary or outdoor use areas (rather than to only buildings) because health and safety should be protected for outdoor use areas, including play areas and outdoor recreation, picnic and work areas.

Existing oil and gas facilities pose serious risks to health and safety and require significant protective measures. To provide reasonable health and safety protection, the setback for new buildings from existing oil and gas facilities (aka “reverse setback”) should be the same as the setback for new oil and gas facilities from existing buildings and neighborhoods. 

Therefore, we do not support the proposed setback of only 500 feet to an abandoned (but not fully reclaimed) well, or the proposed setback of only 150 feet to a plugged and abandoned well. As evidenced in this recent article from the Colorado Sun, issues can come up years after the cessation of operations at oil and gas facilities, including wells that were deemed properly plugged and abandoned. While technologies have improved somewhat, cement and other materials remain subject to degradation and failure over time, posing risks to health and safety extending years and decades.

We appreciate that Staff does not recommend differentiating between types of active drilling processes whether conventional, fracked, or EOR. Whatever industry claims are made regarding emissions from different types of wells, no system is fail-safe.

To provide reasonable health and safety protection, the setback should be at least 2,500 feet. We do not support a 2,000 foot setback because it is not based on science and medical evidence regarding health and safety risks in proximity to oil and gas facilities. A large and growing body of medical research supports a setback of at least 2,500 feet and in 2022 the State of California established a 3,200 foot setback.

  1. We believe the monitoring of oil and gas sites after operations have ceased must continue to be conducted for a substantial period of time. Old oil and gas facilities pose dangers, as evidenced in the above noted article from the Colorado Sun. Any emissions would pose health and safety risks for the occupants of nearby property, and the potential for a next Firestone tragedy should not be taken lightly. We suggest monitoring for at least ten years would be appropriate.
  2. Disclosure requirements for any new development going in near an operating well site, or a site that has been abandoned, should be consistently delineated. If existing real estate law mandate that is the responsibility of subsequent owners following a developer’s initial five-year construction guarantee, that needs to be set by statute. If property developers are concerned that such notifications may impact the property value by suggesting a potential hazard may be present, we can only ask: How anxious are they to live in proximity to an oil and gas site, whether operational or ostensibly properly plugged and abandoned?

We are aware that reverse setbacks are perceived as somehow being different from the setback standards established for oil and gas operators seeking to set up new well sites. We could not disagree more. The potential hazard remains the same, no matter which perspective we are viewing it from. We are also aware that the City is still preparing operational standards for future oil and gas development that might happen within the jurisdiction of Fort Collins. 

All of this may seem almost academic given how few existing sites there are, and how limited the prospect for future oil and gas extraction is projected to be. However, making sure that consistent standards are in place is our best protection against any potential harm to our environment and our community’s health and well-being. We trust you will take these concerns seriously as you consider the question of how to handle reverse setbacks, and the development of residential and business properties near existing oil and gas sites. Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

The issue of abandoned wells is not a trivial one, because unfortunately there is a perennial risk of possible leaks from even supposedly plugged and abandoned wells. This recent article in the Colorado Sun is just one small example of this: Residential development in Erie, Longmont stalled after wells plugged decades ago start leaking oil and gas (August 28, 2023)

Indeed, the looming threat of thousands of “orphaned” abandoned wells that were not properly plugged is a known hazard. The cost of cleaning them up, as well as the 50,000 current producing wells, could cost as much as $7 billion. Consequently, Colorado legislators have been drafting legislation aimed at shoring up the funds to cover this. (See ‘Colorado’s new rules to prevent ‘orphaned’ oil wells could fail to cover cleanup costs, report says’, Colorado Newsline, September 9, 2023, and ‘Nearly half of Colorado’s 52,000 wells produce little or no oil. Who’ll pay to plug them?‘ Colorado Sun, August 22, 2021) Between 2015 and 2020, more wells were plugged than were drilled.

With this kind of evidence, the city and county needs to be mindful of any existing wells that will need to plugged, and how such plugged wells will be monitored into the future. At the moment, the issues have only been partially addressed, and will likely need to be revisited again. At least, the issue is not an immediately pressing one, and the city’s new rules on setbacks are an improvement over what existed before.

A priority for Fort Collins City Council Going Forward

The following was submitted to the opinion section of the Fort Collins Coloradoan following their article on April 30 which solicited citizen ideas for priorities for the City Council.

Editor:

I read with interest the article in the Coloradoan on Sunday, April 30, looking at the various priorities the Fort Collins City Council are working on. I don’t fault the goals, nor the intention to try and arrive at the best solution across a range of difficult issues. 

Of particular interest to me is the commitment of the City toward establishing a regulatory scheme for oil and gas operations. The City Council approved amendments to their land use code on April 4, focusing on setbacks and zoning to restrict the actual territory within city limits available for oil and gas development. This is a good first step, but by itself does not represent comprehensive regulation. While I am aware our fair city may be on the edge of the Denver-Julesburg Basin, and very few legacy sites are actually present within the City’s growth management area, it would be naive to say we are not still at risk to have further exploration occurring within the greater Fort Collins area. The oil and gas industry organizations presented their own argument prior to April 4 that opposed even the use of setback and zoning to constrain their operations, suggesting there may be more brewing beneath the surface than immediately meets the eye. 

I am a member of the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, & the Environment, and we advocated for more detailed regulations. At present, we are communicating with City Council and Staff for the modifications to municipal code that may fill the gaps. Fort Collins is likely to be annexing territory to the East of current city limits, if not to the North as well, where the two legacy operations have caused considerable problems for residents. Given that there is substantial industry interest in territory around Wellington and Windsor, the notion that some oil and gas activity may eventually find its way into the future growth management area of Fort Collins is not at all beyond the realm of possibility. 

As well, the City and County should also be looking at more comprehensive, real time and networked air quality monitoring systems beyond the canister type of site-based sensors that can tell of an issue after it has already happened. The reality is that while there may be minimal oil and gas activity destined to happen within Fort Collins and Larimer County, we are heavily impacted by the emissions from over 20,000 wells in Weld County that have left the Front Range with some of the worst air quality in the country. And the greatest source of precursors to surface level atmospheric ozone, which grievously affects the health of our citizens, are the emissions of oil and gas sites concentrated so heavily to our immediate East. 

Thank you.

Ed Behan

Fort Collins, Colorado

The story of how Boulder County succeeded in defeating Extraction Energy’s attempt at a forced pooling

This story below comes from John McDonaugh, whom I asked if I could publish his comments on this issue, which was announced in a press release by Boulder County on May 4, 2023, which can be read at:

Boulder County Declares Victory on Highly Contested Application to Drill County-Owned Minerals

This is why the Larimer Alliance continues to encourage Larimer County to take a similar tough stand with the O&G industry. We all know we must transition away from fossil fuels — the sooner the better — yet this industry continues to attempt to new drill new wells — even attempting to force Boulder County into a forced pooling. So here is the back story on how Boulder Country succeeded in this particular case. –Rick Casey


Yes, Boulder’s success demonstrates the power and necessity of hope and commitment. However, their victory in this hard-fought battle required more than that:  Boulder played smart. They played tough. They didn’t acquiesce to half-measures or settle for political green-washing or low-hanging fruit (battery lawn tool rebates, anyone?).  They utilized a multi-prong approach that combined education, direct action, political pressure, creative regulatory drafting, savvy legal maneuvering, and “bottom-line” awareness with a relentless, unwavering focus on their ultimate objective:  Prevent O&G development in Boulder County.  

Take a closer look at the sequence.  Extraction Energy initially (c. 2017) pressed for 32 O&G wells and ancillary facilities to be located on Boulder County land.  Boulder firmly opposed the project and supported the enactment of SB 19-181 which gave local governments broad authority to regulate O&G development. Once SB 19-181 became law, Boulder County promptly undertook drafting and enactment of well-crafted, extremely powerful, local O&G regs.  Once in place, those strong local O&G regs undercut Extraction’s legal position, and rendered the proposed in-County O&G development (and Extraction’s battle to approve it) infeasible and uneconomic.  

Extraction Energy then attempted to develop Boulder County’s O&G resources via directional drilling from the Blue Paintbrush pad located just on the Weld County side of the Weld/Boulder County line.  Extraction figured that since SB 19-181 only allowed local governments to regulate the surface impacts of O&G development (and Weld County was, as always, in favor of the development) they could avoid compliance with the Boulder County regs by moving the O&G surface facilities outside Bounder County’s jurisdiction.  However, regs aside, Extraction still needed to acquire the subsurface mineral rights below Boulder County land.  Once again, Boulder County and its residents held firm to their objective and overwhelmingly rejected Extraction’s mineral rights purchase offer.    

But Extraction Energy wasn’t finished.  They next went to the COGCC seeking a “Forced Pooling” order which would require Boulder County to allow Extraction to develop the minerals as part of Extraction’s broader reservoir development plan. Boulder County and its residents then fought Extraction’s Forced Pooling attempt on multiple fronts:  politically (via proposed anti-FP legislation), administratively, legally, and in the “court of public opinion”.  They ultimately prevailed (at least until another oil company effort comes along).  However, Boulder County leaders and residents now know they can — through focused diligence, savvy strategies, and hard work —prevail against O&G industry overreach.  Equally important, so do the oil companies…who will likely look elsewhere for “greener pastures” and “easier pickings” the next time around.  Why play the Kansas City Chiefs when you can play the Chicago Bears? 

Boulder County and its residents showed what it takes. Playing against oil companies and their political enablers is tough.  It’s often unpleasant.  It’s taxing on multiple personal and professional levels. The other side is smart, well-financed, well-connected, and extremely tenacious. They will press their objectives, irrespective of the broader public good, until they encounter firm and effective resistance. The knife goes in until it meets steel. That’s not “cynicism”, it’s reality.  

If we environmental advocates truly do our jobs, some folks — including some folks in power and, sadly, even some so-called “environmentalists” — won’t like us very much.  However, if we remain true to our course, play smart, build and leverage effective coalitions, and call out industry BS and political inaction when necessary, they will respect us and will fear what we may accomplish. And, to my mind, that’s far more important to our world, to our community, and to the most vulnerable among us. 

If a community and its leaders settle for empty promises, election-year greenwashing, unrelated low-hanging fruit (e.g. a few more bike racks, EV chargers, lawn tool rebates), and other placebos that won’t move the climate change, ozone, and toxic emissions needle, they will get exactly what they deserve.  The oil industry will see to that.  

Boulder County and its residents showed us the way. Let’s heed and learn from their example. 

Thanks for all you and LA have done and continue to do in our “neck of the woods” on this critical issue.  Keep up the good fight!  

—  John McDonagh

John is another Old Retired Guy who lives in Fort Collins (and a former state government enforcement attorney, oil industry regulator, oil industry senior counsel, and Federal agency senior environmental counsel). 

Letter submitted by Larimer Alliance and other allied groups to Fort Collins City Council regarding draft oil and gas regulations

The following letter was submitted to Fort Collins City Council regarding the pending draft regulations for oil and gas development within the context of the evolving Land Development Code. It has been signed by the Larimer Alliance, Sierra Club Poudre Canyon Group, 350 Colorado, and the Fort Collins Sustainability Group. If you hover your cursor over the bottom of the first page, you will see arrow prompts to access the rest of the pages.

Joint-Env-Org-OG-Reg-Ltr-to-FC-City-Council-FINAL12-17-2022