This was the historic action by the CDPHE to shut down the problematic site in northern Fort Collins, issued August 25, 2022. See:
Unfortunately, it only lasted for a couple of months, and Prospect Energy was able to resume operations.
This was the historic action by the CDPHE to shut down the problematic site in northern Fort Collins, issued August 25, 2022. See:
Unfortunately, it only lasted for a couple of months, and Prospect Energy was able to resume operations.
This message was sent out on the Larimer Alliance listserv on October 26, 2023.
Last Monday, October 16, the Larimer Alliance announced our endorsements for the current election to the Fort Collins City Council. In the race for the District 6 seat, we endorsed Alexander Adams based on the comprehensive responses he provided to our questionnaire on environmental issues in Northern Colorado.
On Tuesday the 17th certain information about past online activity on the part of Alexander was brought to our attention. While not central to his response to our questions, his appearances on a variety of forums advocating what can only be described as hateful and reprehensible stances on a range of social justice issues are problematic. Postings related to white nationalist and racist philosophy were particularly disturbing.
We determined to look into that history as provided in one of our local forums as well as conducting our own background checks. We also decided to reach out to Alexander directly, seeking his confirmation that he had disavowed those views, and asking for references who could speak to the sincerity of his evolving views. We have the impression that not everyone who have raised these issues have taken that step.
He met with our representatives last Friday and addressed our questions and provided some referrals as we requested. We heard from those advocates on his behalf over the weekend. These included college friends who knew him during both that troubling era as well as currently, and at least one mentor.
Since then, this information has been made public in local social media postings and in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. We cannot dispute that his past postings online are terrible, but the possibility that he has undergone a sincere change of heart in the three years since they appeared is something we can neither prove nor disprove.
We still appreciate the stances that Alexander took regarding the key environmental issues we addressed in our questionnaire. But under the circumstances we don’t feel there is enough of a track record of how he has shifted from some of the more disturbing activities in his past. With that in mind, we must withdraw our endorsement of his candidacy for the District 6 post.
We should be clear that while we do not agree with some of the conclusions he has drawn in his current work for the Firearms Research Center of the School of law at the University of Wyoming, the papers and postings he has generated in that regard are not couched in racist or hateful terms. That is an issue over which people can attempt to have reasonable disagreements, and debates about the validity of research. He has also indicated he is a fiscal conservative, but that too is not necessarily at odds with taking a stance in favor of environmental advocacy.
Second chances are something all of us may have benefited from at different times in our lives. It is our hope that if Alexander has indeed shifted in the way he communicated to us last Friday, that he will consider, if not elected to Council, other ways he might serve in our community and establish a history of a more rational and empathetic outlook on the pressing social issues of our time. He is to be commended for being willing to sit with us and answer some tough and pretty uncomfortable questions.
There may be those who question why we took so long to arrive at this decision, and we can only say we needed to pursue this on our own. The chance to communicate directly with Alexander and to hear from his close advocates and friends was an important part of that. But at this point, there are many issues of pressing importance that we need to focus on moving forward and hopefully this is something that can be put behind us all.
The Larimer Alliance believes vigorous democratic debate helps our society; and that expecting our elected representatives to respond to sincere questions about top policy issues helps that process.
Below are the questions that we developed as a group, and asked all candidates. Following our questions are their responses, embedded in our questions.
The following candidates did not respond: Jeni Arndt and Shirley Peel.
Mayoral & City Council 2023 Election Questionnaire
Dear Candidate,
We are the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety & the Environment and seek to learn your ideas specific to our mission of educating the public & policy makers of the harms of Oil & Gas (O&G) development. We ask that you please provide your responses by October 5th, so that we may share them with our member list and other interested voters. We may or may not choose to endorse a candidate. Thank you for taking the time to address these important public health & safety issues. (If you feel a simple yes or no response is insufficient to answer any question, we encourage you to add your comments and ideas.)
SB19-181 substantially revised Colorado’s law governing (O&G) development establishing a clear priority of protecting public health, safety, the environment and wildlife resources. SB19-181 also enabled significant local government authority for regulating O&G development with a number of local governments having undertaken & established local regulations that increase protections of public health, safety, the environment and wildlife resources beyond what the State of Colorado feels is protective enough.
1. The City of Fort Collins is currently undergoing a rewrite of its O&G regulations with the next segment to be discussed & written being the operational standards. Operational standards include important regulations encompassing leak detection & repair (LDAR), air quality monitoring, financial assurance, water usage and Fort Collins & Larimer County’s joint O&G inspection program.
a. What ideas do you have for these operational standards that would be an improvement and more protective of public health & safety?
b. Do you support having a collaborative City and Larimer County inspection and enforcement team that conducts regular inspection and monitoring of O&G facilities, with the ability to fine and penalize non-compliant O&G operators for violations at their facilities?
i. Should local taxpayers or O&G operators pay for these inspections?
c. Full cost bonding requires O&G operators to post financial assurance equal to the costs of plugging, abandoning and reclaiming the O&G site once activities have been completed. Do you support full cost bonding requirements for all new O&G facilities?
d. Do you support monitoring and measuring actual water usage by O&G facilities, rather than relying on estimates provided by operators?
i. Do you support water provisions in the City’s regulations so that O&G operators are strongly encouraged or required to recycle & reuse their produced water?
2. The American Lung Association consistently gives Fort Collins an F-grade regarding air quality with the most recent 2023 report (link below) listing us as having the 15th worst air quality of over 200 American cities. Fort Collins has been moving down the most polluted list with more & more dangerous air quality. NCAR’s FRAPPÉ study found conclusively that O&G emissions are the major driver of unhealthy air quality in the northern Front Range area.
https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities
a. Do you support 24/7 air quality monitoring and real-time data reporting at O&G sites and facilities within the City’s jurisdiction including the growth management area, to be paid for by the O&G operator?
b. Do you support 24/7 air quality monitoring and real-time data reporting including signature O&G pollutants for addressing regional air pollution affecting Fort Collins?
c. What other idea(s) do you have to address Fort Collins’s dangerous air quality?
3. Have you received or will you accept campaign contributions from companies whose primary business is the development of fossil fuels?
4. What other idea(s) do you have that could improve environmental protections and sustainability in Fort Collins?
a. How would these lead to improvement(s) in public health, safety, and the lives of Fort Collins residents?
5. What stewardship, environmental or sustainability practices have you implemented in your life that you feel others should consider enacting?
a. Why & what difference(s) has it/they made?
6. Do you support Fort Collins in collaboration with other Front Range communities taking legal action against polluters responsible for emissions that harm Fort Collins & other Front Range communities’ air quality and endanger public health & safety?
Respectfully,
Tim Gosar, Coordinator, Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety & the Environment
Response from Eric Hamrick: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Eric-HamrickResponse from Emily Francis: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-questionnaire-Response-Emily-FrancisResponse from Julie Pignataro: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Julie-PignataroResponse from Melanie Potyondy: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Melanie-PotyondyResponse from Patricia Babbitt: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Patricia-Babbitt-1Response from Alexander Adams: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Alexander-AdamsThe 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.