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We have been assured by legal counsel that the deadline in the original lease was not a legal deadline. Extraction has since confirmed to counsel that they will offer at least two more lease rounds.
That is a complicated question because it all stems from when Extraction files its Form 2A permit to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”). Please refer to the document titled COGCC Process for Permit Approval under the Files Tab for a general description.
Our Counsel believes that Extraction has merely sent letters out to a random group of people in Section 18 of the Township, and that eventually all residents with mineral rights will receive lease offers. Thus everyone should undertake to determine if they are in the geographical regions in the Application and if they own their mineral rights. That way we can be fully informed as to who should be included as Interested Parties during the permitting process. Also, even residents that are not technically Interested Parties can still help as we try to convince the City Council to work with us to leverage Extraction.
These are two ballot initiatives to add to the November 2016 ballot (a) a 2500 ft. setback for fracking projects and (b) local government ability to regulate fracking. If these initiatives were to gain enough signatures to be added to the November ballot, the constituents could vote on the initiatives, and if they pass they may apply to the Lowell pad.
For more information please see www.YesforHealthandSafety.org
Anthem residents do not have mineral rights so they are in a different position than we are, i.e. they do not have leverage when dealing with Extraction. Further, the permitting process for that project is in a different point in the process than ours. However, Anthem residents and those in other neighboring communities will still be impacted by the drilling and can express their concerns and desires to The City and County of Broomfield.
The land under Holy Family is owned by the Archdiocese of Denver, and initial outreach seems to indicate the Archdiocese is willing to lease its mineral rights. We are trying to start a letter writing campaign with Holy Family parents to urge the Archdiocese to join us to add leverage.
Broomfield has the largest acreage in this potential drilling area and this is why it is crucial for us to convince the City/County to join us in leveraging this position when dealing with Extraction. Broomfield has not decided yet how they proceed. They have hired outside counsel that is a well respected mineral rights/landowner attorney (we actually considered him for our representation) and he will work well with our counsel and the City Attorney.
Matt is a lawyer specializing in representing landowners, mineral rights owners, communities and governments in their negotiations and lawsuits with oil and gas companies. He has already provided us with many hours of free consultation and advice, and has agreed to represent us as we traverse this process.
We interviewed lawyers and chose one that had never represented any oil and gas company, had significant experience in the area, and was well-respected in the specialty.
We will supplement this response as soon as we know how the HOA decides to proceed.
We would ask each party to contribute $250 to the legal fund, we would then pay Matt his fees and costs out of the legal fund.
By this we mean attempting to stop the fracking of Wildgrass altogether.
Our Counsel has explained that the current lease offer contains provisions that are undesirable, such as the warrant of mineral rights, and also is missing key provisions to protect a lessee from liability. The royalty rate is also low for the market. Most importantly, however, the lease does not contain safety and environmental restrictions, etc. that could make the Lowell pad the least obtrusive as it can be.
Our community has identified many articles on these issues, please review the files area under updates for more information. As the committee focused on this digests and summarizes this information, we will post more specific updates and analysis
Our Counsel also works with two of the foremost experts in the field of health impacts of hydraulic fracturing and we are working to arrange a community presentation from these experts.
Our committee is working on researching this topic and will provide more updates in the coming days. Some of the questions raised so far include:
Extraction will not confirm that it will definitely use the Lowell pad for drilling into Anthem (North), but indicates that its likely. Thus, there is a chance we could stop Lowell pad use if we successfully blocked drilling into our neighborhood (south).
During the construction, and especially during the drilling there will definitely be noise. If we lease we would definitely want to negotiate to keep noise levels at a safe and reasonable decibel level.
Until Extraction tells us precisely what the Lowell and Sheridan pads will consist of we cannot really answer this question. They will have 16-20 wells on the pads, and could have combustors, etc. depending on how they intend to transport the product. These are essential questions for Extraction.
Currently Extraction says it will use pipelines to transport product. If this holds true, this means that after the initial construction and drilling, trucks to the site would be minimal.
If we decide to group negotiate a lease, perhaps we could negotiate terms regarding traffic at the site.
Currently we understand that earthquakes are associated with deep well injection of wastewater from fracking. It will be imperative that we know how Extraction intends to deal with its wastewater. According to Extraction, the closest extraction well is 12 miles away.
The answer to this is currently unclear. At least one resident has talked about hiring an independent consultant to review the issue. If you have insight or would like to participate in this research, please contact us.
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EXTRACTION OIL & GAS invites you to come and learn more about oil and natural gas operations in your community.
There will be a request for an executive session to follow the City Council meeting on July 26, 2016 regarding the lease offers and force pooling.
Panel presentation of three independent experts that have studied a variety of questions around oil and gas development
Group photo by journalist investigating the increasing occurrences of larger scale oil and gas production immediately adjacent to neighborhoods
Extraction to discuss discuss third-quarter 2016 financial and operating results
Two documents were sent to the Broomfield City Council detailing necessary improvements to the MOU to better protect the residents of Broomfield
Meeting minutes and slides from the Wildgrass and Anthem Symposium held in November, 2016
Extraction delivered a presentation to investors today. It provided more information on their planned growth into Broomfield
In the past two years, Extraction has had 16 documented spill incidents. This post explores those.
We need volunteers! Whether it's talking to your neighbors, researching with one of the working groups, writing your representatives, or engaging the nearby communities, there are jobs for everyone who would like to participate. If you want to help, please contact us. Also, join the facebook group below for interactive discussion.
