Battlement Mesa Residents Call on COGCC for Hearing on “most dangerous proposal” - Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2019

Grand Junction, CO — This week, Battlement Concerned Citizens, Grand Valley Citizens Alliance and Western Colorado Alliance are calling on the Polis Administration and the new heads of the Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to review a recent permit approving more drilling in Battlement Mesa. The permit for the controversial BMC A Pad, part of the second phase of oil and gas development in the Western Slope community of Battlement Mesa, was partially issued in the eleventh hour of the Hickenlooper administration.

This week, the organizations filed a request for a formal hearing before the COGCC to have a full debate on the proposal. “We are hopeful that the new administration will take another look at this dangerous proposal and see the hazards that would plague our community for many years to come – long after Ursa is gone. It deserves full scrutiny before the Commission” Dave Devanney of Battlement Concerned Citizens said.

This recent pad approval threatens the safety of local residents and undermines their ability to keep their homes safe. What has been called the “worst drilling application in the state” will put 24 natural gas wells, a wastewater injection well and associated equipment barely 500 feet from a mobile park neighborhood. Pad A is also less than 500 feet from Battlement Mesa’s wastewater treatment plant and close to the water treatment plant. The pad will be about 900 feet from the Colorado River and cut into a 90-foot hillside at the base of the trailer park.

BCC, GVCA, and WCA are considering all options as they move forward, but maintain their position that A pad is one of the most reckless proposals in the state and an egregious example of how the oil and gas regulatory system is failing to protect the public health of the people of Colorado by permitting huge industrial projects within neighborhoods.

“Approving this drilling application presents a clear and present danger to the entire Battlement Mesa community. The risk is too great for an industrial accident to damage some of the essential municipal infrastructure,” Devanney continued. “If the state approves this type of project it will set a dangerous precedent for other communities around the state of Colorado.”

“GVCA members are especially concerned about the engineering analysis on the retaining wall that is supposed to keep the hillside from collapsing on the rig and wastewater treatment plant just below it. The COGCC should have considered the wall be built first to determine the safety of the pad location before approving Form 2A,” Grand Valley Citizens Alliance chair Leslie Robinson said. “Battlement Mesa residents are surrounded by hundreds of wells, in various stages of production. The COGCC failed to take into account the cumulative effects upon citizen health caused by multiple fracked wells. With the many odor complaints generated when other pads were developed within Battlement neighborhoods, this means there’s something seriously wrong with drilling too close to homes that the COGCC did not consider when they approved Pad A.”

Pad A is part of the Ursa Phase 2 development that will bring in an additional 50-plus wells and tanks close to

Battlement Mesa homes. There have been numerous complaints about unpleasant and potentially hazardous odors, traffic, and noise during the first phase of development already underway in the community. Leslie Robinson will be traveling to Denver on Monday to make the request in person at the COGCC meeting.

About the author

Emily Hornback

Emily stepped up as our staff director in 2017, but originally joined our team as a community organizer in 2013. Born and raised on the Western Slope, Emily graduated from Colorado State University and then had the privilege of learning from and working alongside organizers in Central and South America as well as Appalachian coal country. They returned to their home state to protect the land they love and work with fellow Coloradans for a healthy, just and self-reliant future for our rural communities. Emily enjoys organizing, exploring the Colorado Plateau, country music and punk concerts with equal passion.