Colorado county adjacent to Weld is fighting to stop oil and gas development on its side of the line

In the Wattenberg field, Boulder County has filed motions to dismiss 8 North LLC’s applications for additional density, arguing that the COGCC cannot grant them when the drilling and spacing units have not yet been established and the authorized well for those units has not yet been drilled and begun producing, Boulder County said in an emailed press release today.

8 North LLC is a subsidiary of Extraction Oil & Gas (ticker: XOG), one of two companies that submitted documentation and related applications in an initiative to drill their respective acreage located on the Boulder County side of the Wattenberg field in the D-J basin.

A five-year frac moratorium in Boulder County expired earlier this year after the Colorado attorney general sued Boulder County over the ban. The suit was dropped after the county’s ban expired. Extraction has been under the Boulder County Commissioners’ microscope before.  Extraction did win a nearby victory with an approval of its drilling plan by Broomfield City and County earlier this year.

The other company ramping up the application process to drill the Boulder side of the Wattenberg is privately held Crestone Peak Resources. Crestone is taking a rarely used application approach offered by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission called a Comprehensive Drilling Plan.

Boulder County’s Dec. 8 email said that 8 North LLC filed two applications with the COGCC to establish “drilling and spacing units” in the northeastern and southeastern parts of Boulder County. The applications requested authorization to drill a single well in each unit.

“The same day, 8 North filed applications for ‘additional density’ in each proposed unit, requesting 31 additional wells in the northern unit and 19 additional wells in the southern unit, for a total of 32 and 20 wells respectively. Colorado statutes say that a drilling and spacing unit can be established for a single well to be drilled and begin producing. Only then can additional wells be authorized to prevent “waste” of the mineral resource.

Boulder County has filed motions to dismiss 8 North’s applications for additional density, arguing that the COGCC cannot grant them when the drilling and spacing units have not yet been established and the authorized well for those units has not yet been drilled and begun producing.

Motion to Dismiss 8 North Lack of Subject Matter (Docket #171200774)

Motion to Dismiss 8 North Density Application (Docket #171206)

We want local control: Boulder’s background on oil and gas development

Boulder County said in its email to residents today that it is “concerned about the potential for significantly expanded oil and gas development within our county boundaries. We support appropriate tighter restrictions and increased local control to mitigate the impacts of these activities.

“The Board of County Commissioners and staff have laid the groundwork for how the county will work to address the potentially hazardous impacts of oil and gas development on local public health, safety, and the environment.

Boulder wants to maximize the use of its ‘limited local authority to protect county residents’

“In order to maximize the use of its limited local authority and protect county residents, Boulder County is committed to undertaking a series of legislative, legal, environmental, and public health approaches to help minimize the impacts of oil and gas development on people and the environment.

View details of the county’s multi-pronged approach.


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