Commissioners urged to reject well pad for fracking near Aurora Reservoir

More than 400 people who filled a venue overlooking the plains of Arapahoe County on Thursday urged the Energy and Carbon Management Commission to reject a well pad for the Lowry Ranch fracking plan.

The ECMC voted in August 2024 to green light the fracking plan, which includes 32,000 acres of proposed subsurface mineral development with 10 locations and 166 new wells. The approval came after days of testimony and following years of a battle over the proposed operation.

Part of the plan includes drilling about 7,000 feet under the Aurora Reservoir and on land surrounding the reservoir, which drew opposition from nearby residents and their allies, and support from other quarters.

While the overall plan was approved by the commission, Civitas, the company, still needs to submit an oil and gas development plan application for each of its proposed well sites before it can forward.

Each application has to be approved by both the ECMC and Arapahoe County before Civitas drills hit the ground.

A line formed outside the building as speakers took the microphone to talk to three of the five ECMC commissioners who came to Thursday night’s public hearing on the proposed State Sunlight-Long well pad. The meeting lasted more than three hours.

None of the speakers spoke in support of the State Sunlight-Long well pad plan.

Many of the speakers wore matching blue shirts that read “sunlight wrong,” in reference to the proposed well pad, which is the largest of all of the proposed well pads in the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan, which includes 166 new wells.

Marsha Goldsmith Kamin speaks to three ECMC commissioners on Sept. 11, 2025.

The State Sunlight-Long well pad is proposed to be about 35 acres and sit about 1.5 miles north of County Line Road and 1.6 miles east of South Powhaton Road in unincorporated Arapahoe County, according to Arapahoe County’s website.

The pad would support the drilling and operation of up to 32 wells.

Arapahoe County Public Works and Development conditionally approved the well pad application in May, saying the proposal is “meeting and in many areas exceeds the county’s criteria or has qualified for a waiver.”

The applicant, Crestone Resources, which is owned by Civitas, has to get final approval for State Sunlight-Long from the ECMC.

The proposed site is about a mile from two elementary schools, and within a 2-mile radius of more than 10,000 households, said Save The Aurora Reservoir (STAR), an organization created to oppose fracking in the area.

State Sunlight-Long well pad map with distances. Courtesy of Save The Aurora Reservoir.

The group and its allies argued that the well pads — in particular the State Sunlight-Long pad — are too close to homes, schools and water sources and expressed worries about air and water quality, as well as wildlife and health impacts to people. They also cited the financial impacts of having homes near a well site.

The speakers at Thursday night’s hearing emphasized their health concerns, saying they are worried for their children, themselves and their neighbors.

Sarah Palmquist, who has severe asthma, told commissioners she lives in one of the closest homes to the proposed site and is worried about poor air quality.

“My son loves to play soccer, he loves to fish in the reservoir and I like to do those things with him,” Palmquist said. “He also suffers from asthma and the Sunlight-Long pad will release particles into that air that is known to worsen asthma … This project is an attack on our community’s health, especially our pulmonary health.”

Katie Collins, a resident of a neighborhood near the proposed site, cited a May 2025 study that showed children living near oil and gas operations are at increased risk for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Drill sites for the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan. Courtesy of STAR.

STAR and its allies are now fighting each individual site application — citing concerns about health and safety, the project’s effect on the “climate crisis,” risks of water contamination and threats to local wildlife.

Civitas has countered that the project offers unequivocal benefits to the surrounding areas and to the county and it would would yield an estimated $235 million in tax revenue for Arapahoe County.

Company officials also promised to adopt a wide array of precautions, including building wells farther away from homes and adding air monitoring and sound barriers to protect residents and ensure the project does not negatively affect the area.

Civitas spent two years obtaining approval from the state for oil-and-gas drilling, finally getting it after a hearing that lasted three full days.

Arapahoe County and the ECMC have approved the State La Plata South pad application, which includes up to 17 new wells. Operations have begun on the site.

The applications for State Harvard-Yale, State Wetterhorn-Handies and Secret Stash are complete and county staff is reviewing them.

More information about the well pad applications and the project can be found on Arapahoe County’s oil and gas website and Citivas’ project page.