The Extraction Oil and Gas Company has permits to drill 32 new fracking wells on land just southeast of Longmont.  This is land for which Boulder County owns a conservation easement.  The new horizontal wells would extend several miles west, across the county line into Boulder County and would remove oil and gas from under Boulder County’s Open Space.  Boulder County owns the oil and gas under this protected land and does not want it to be fracked. 

Extraction is attempting to force Boulder County into either 1.) leasing its rights to remove the fossil fuels from under its Open Space or 2.) compelling Boulder County taxpayers to help pay for the costs of drilling, spills and accidents (estimated to be more than $21 million) in exchange for getting 20% of the hoped for profits. 

Expecting that Boulder County would refuse to cooperate, Extraction already applied to the COGCC to use an unfair tactic called “forced pooling.”  If the COGCC approves the “force pooling” application, the taxpayer share of the project is projected to rise to about $26 million and drilling is expected to start this spring.  The COGCC will make a final decision at its rescheduled May 10th hearing.

Fracking emits large amounts of toxic air pollutants such as methane, permanently destroys enormous amounts of water, can cause spills and explosions, generates noise and excess truck traffic, which leads to loss of animal and plant habitats. Our health is connected to the way we treat our environment. The air pollutants released by fracking can lead to severe headaches, asthma symptoms, childhood leukemia, cardiac problems, and birth defects.