As this blog reported earlier (“The fate of the Aurora Reservoir began today”, 11/20/25), the residential neighborhoods clustered around the southwestern corner of the Aurora Reservoir, containing several thousand residents, had banded together under the non-profit STAR — for Save The Aurora Reservoir.  Faced with the prospect since 2022 of over 100 wells being drilled by Crestone Energy within several miles of their community, STAR organized, campaigned, raised thousands of dollars in funding, and hired the best attorney in the state to argue their case  — Mike Foote, who helped write the law, SB19-181, under which this application was now to be judged by.

That law redefined the purpose for which the oil and gas industry is  regulated in Colorado. In 2019. When the law was passed, that regulatory agency was called the COGCC, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which largely existed to “foster the industry.” Ever since it was created in the mid-20th century,  ostensibly, a “balanced” approach, on paper,  between the environment and development was supposed to be taken by the COGCC; but that was never the case in reality. SB19-181 changed that: the COGCC was renamed to the Energy Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) would by law prioritize protecting the health and safety of people and the environment above fostering the industry. Also mandated by the new law was the creation of a professional board of five commissioners, with a professional staff to support it, which would replace the previous volunteer board. However, as with many such laws, this qualitative rule was not backed up by any quantitative regulatory standard through which to evaluate the health and safety of people and the environment. Rather, it would depend solely on decisions that would be made by the five commissioners.

Would this new law really matter?

There was reason to doubt that the ECMC would take its new role seriously. It took some time before SB19-181 went into effect, due to the process by which a law which requires regulations gets translated into rules by which a regulatory agency interprets the law. It would take nearly two years for that to happen.

In the meantime, the COGCC continued to function, pretty much unchanged from its previous behavior of rubber stamping any new application for an O&G well. As far as I am aware, the COGCC never denied a single application, and it would allow 1,000 new O&G wells to get drilled each year since 2019. It really seemed like not much had changed.  Some say this has been due to the political influence under Governor Polis, elected in 2018, who has been favorably disposed to the O&G industry, judging by his actions. Under the Polis administration, around 5,000 new O&G wells have been drilled in the state, the majority of them in the Front Range, scattered from south Denver to the Pawnee Grasslands north of Greeley.

So even after the ECMC came into being in 2022, there did not seem to have been much of a change in how things worked in how the public at large was affected by the O&G industry in the field. Citizens who have been sickened in their homes from breathing polluted air created by fracking operations, or had the quality of their lives destroyed by the noise from drilling, or the increased truck traffic in their area, and have complained loudly as individuals to the COGCC, were ignored.

The citizens of STAR had been anxiously waiting for their day in court, so to speak, since this hearing began on November 20. Would their efforts to protect their community pay off? Or would this commission behave like its predecessor did, and merely rubber stamp what the industry wanted to do, as in the past? One can imagine their apprehension.

The way that the ECMC works under hearings like this now, in the era of the internet and Zoom technology, is under much more public scrutiny than in the past. These public hearings are announced in advance, with the Zoom link published to allow literally anyone to view the proceedings. There is literally no room to hide for the 5 ECMC commissioners — which the reason that SB19-181 was created. Before that law was passed, the COGCC functioned as a body appointed by the governor from within the ranks of state employees, already serving in other capacities. There were a total of around a dozen people, comprised of a mix of backgrounds, including the CDPHE (Colorado Dept of Public Health & Environment) and the CPW (Colorado Parks & Wildlife). However, their role in the COGCC was simply advisory, and decisions were made a simple majority; of course, the O&G appointees outnumber the rest. Although ostensibly a “balanced” board,  the COGCC clearly supported the industry throughout its history.

The Fateful Decision

ON THE DAY of the decision, Wednesday, December 10, I listened to the hearing itself…an arduous process…for about 45 minutes…but gave up at that point. Unless you were intimately knowledgeable with the case, the minutiae of detail was mindnumbing to follow. The meeting continued for another couple of hours.

Here is one screenshot, which pretty much conveys what the rest of the nearly 3 hr long meeting looked like:

In this shot, Commissioner Brett Ackerman was speaking; each commissioner got their turn. He was quite articulate, speaking like a lawyer, and I recall him covering many detailed points. In particular, he pointed out how many emails he had received that were from the same form letter — which he said he did not consider very effective. He preferred to receive individually written letters, he said. Sounds like he does not know what activism looks like to most people.

In the end, I found out later, all the commissioners, except Commissioner Cross, who’s in the upper right in this screenshot, voted to stay the application from Crestone Energy.  This was definitely a win for STAR, and Mike Foote, their attorney; the only better decision would have been a denial of the application. What a stay means is that the applicant, Crestone Energy, must develop a new plan which, as the commissioners stipulated, needs to have less potential impacts on the Aurora community. It did not appear that the commissioners gave any indication of what a new application must adhere to; so, we the public, are still pretty much left in the dark as to what will eventually happen. Will Crestone’s lawyers hobnob with the commissioners, out of sight of the public? Who knows…

The head commissioner, Jeff Robbins, pictured at the upper left, pointed out that around 300 people had attended the Zoom meeting. They definitely took note of how many people were watching — and commented that this had been the most viewed hearing in the ECMC’s short history.

The Aftermath

The next day (12/11/25), this article appeared in the Colorado Sun:

Planned drill site near Aurora Reservoir delayed by state regulators in a win for neighborhood group

which said it all: STAR had won the day. But, boy, it had been a long time coming…

However, the story is not over; and it will depend on the new plan that Crestone Energy develops, and then proposes to the ECMC, likely sometime in 2026.

Stay tuned…