DOUGLAS COUNTY:
Protect Your Property Rights and Values
What will you do when someone comes for your mineral rights?
Keep Douglas County Beautiful, Healthy, & Safe for Our Families
Know before you sign:
BE AWARE: Companies have been attempting to lease the mineral rights of northeast Douglas County property owners, which would allow equipment to access and extract oil and gas from their property.
BE INFORMED: A mineral lease is a legal document which transfers development rights for your property to a company for a number of years. Studies show that oil and gas development decreases property values, and releases toxic pollutants into the surrounding air.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: You have no obligation to respond to companies attempting to lease your minerals. Know and understand your rights and the impacts of oil and gas development before you sign. Agents may imply that you will be penalized for not signing, or use other aggressive or misleading tactics. Colorado oil and gas law changed in 2019. Be sure to refer to the updated state pooling information sheet here.
PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY AND HELP PREVENT FORCED POOLING: Please read and understand CURRENT state forced pooling information that reflects updates to the law passed in 2019. Consider seeking legal counsel if an operator claims that you are subject to pooling. If you do not lease your mineral rights, you still control your minerals. However, if 45% of the total acres within a Drilling and Spacing Unit (DSU) are leased, state rules may allow operators “force pool” the remaining 55% of the mineral interest and gain access to the minerals of “Non-Consenting Working Interest Owners.”
BE NEIGHBORLY: Because of the potential for forced pooling, signing a lease can undermine your neighbors’ property rights.
BE CONCERNED: If knowledge that signing a lease could undermine your neighbors’ property rights and reduce your property values is not enough to deter you from leasing, please read on to learn more about the impacts that oil and gas development have on your health and safety. You may also want to seek legal counsel before signing a lease or other documents to learn if the agreement is in your interest.
HEALTH AND SAFETY IMPACTS AND RISKS :
How will your health, safety and property values be affected when there are spills, leaks, blowouts, fires, explosions, emissions, and workplace accidents at the well-head or pipelines or transport vehicles?
These news stories describe some of the effects on Colorado residents:
“The Front Range is in violation of federal health standards for ozone pollution and according to the APDC, oil and gas is the largest human-made source of the two pollutants that combine to create ozone — accounting for 42% of the volatile organic chemical emissions in the air and 46% of the nitrogen oxides.”
From this article: “How Should Colorado Measure the Impact of Oil and Gas? ‘There Has to Be A Point Where the Glass Is Full.'” ARTICLE HERE
HEALTH EFFECTS OF OZONE:
- Ozone in the air we breathe can harm our health, especially on hot sunny days when ozone can reach unhealthy levels. Even relatively low levels of ozone can cause health effects.
- People most at risk from breathing air containing ozone include people with asthma, children, older adults, and people who are active outdoors, especially outdoor workers.
- Children are at greatest risk from exposure to ozone because their lungs are still developing and they are more likely to be active outdoors when ozone levels are high, which increases their exposure.
- Depending on the level of exposure, ozone can cause coughing, make the lungs more susceptible to infection, damage the airways, aggravate lung diseases, increase the frequency of asthma attacks.
- Some of these effects have been found even in healthy people, but effects can be more serious in people with lung diseases such as asthma. They may lead to increased school absences, medication use, visits to doctors and emergency rooms, and hospital admissions. (Content directly from EPA website here)
REGIONAL OZONE LEVELS NEAR SEVERE NON-COMPLIANCE IN 9-COUNTY DENVER METRO AREA:
“Air pollution hits children, older adults, and people who work outside the hardest, and the impacts fall disproportionately on disadvantaged areas, whose residents often lack the resources to move to cleaner neighborhoods.”
“Ozone is created when chemicals emitted into the atmosphere via vehicle exhaust, oil and gas development, and wildfires are baked by the sun. Ozone pollution that exceeds federal limits is a stubborn problem.”
“The Front Range has one of the worst ozone problems in the country. Last year, health officials in the counties east of the Rocky Mountains issued “ozone action day alerts” on 65 days from May 31 to Aug. 31, peak season for ozone. That’s the highest number since record-keeping began in 2011.”
“The EPA determined that over the three-year period from 2018 to 2020, average ozone levels over eight hours on the Front Range were 81 parts per billion. The federal limit set in 2008 was 75 ppb, but the current one, set in 2015, is 70 ppb. Under the proposal to change a nine-county area of the Front Range from a ‘serious’ to a ‘severe’ violator, the region would have to meet that standard by 2026. Air pollution researcher Crooks said that 70 ppb is a difficult goal to achieve and that it isn’t low enough to protect public health. Indeed, no level of ozone is safe, he said.”
“Air pollution near drilling and fracking operations is high enough in some Colorado communities to raise cancer risks, according to a 2018 study. A 2021 study found that the fracking boom in northeastern Colorado was a significant source of toxic and smog-making air pollutants, including benzene and toluene.”
From the summary: Compendium of the Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure (Ninth Edition October 2023, by Concerned Health Professionals of NY and Physicians for Social Responsibility)
TAKE ACTION:
CONTACT LOCAL GOVERNMENT:
- Douglas County Commissioners (SEND EMAIL)
- Castle Rock Town Council (SEND EMAIL)
- Highlands Ranch Metro Board (SEND EMAIL)
- Parker Town Council (SEND EMAIL)
- Your Colorado State Reps: Frizell (EMAIL), Marshall (EMAIL), Hartsook (EMAIL), Bradley (EMAIL)
- Your Colorado State Senators: Baisley (EMAIL), Smallwood (EMAIL), Van Winkle (EMAIL)
FILE A COMPLAINT:
Share your concerns about current oil and gas activity with Colorado State O&G Regulators (ECMC). File a complaint about noise, smells, lights, operating hours, truck traffic, dust, vibrations, health issues etc.:
LEARN ABOUT Air Quality:
Learn about how oil and gas operations reduce air quality at great distances from the well sites.
AMPLIFY YOUR VOICE:
Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper amplifies your voice! Help educate your neighbors… put pressure on your elected officials… be heard… make a bigger difference! See a great example here. We can help you with talking points, offer suggestions, or proofread your draft. Click below to contact us:
“Today it’s my neighborhood, but tomorrow it’s yours”
– Laura L
Timeline
Public Information regarding McWhinney fracking plans in our area.
Invitation found on Facebook group 01/06/2022, inviting the Pioneer Village residents to a “McWhinney Open House to preview an upcoming oil and gas, and resource development effort in Centerra which resides in Loveland”
Many citizens have contacted the City of Loveland with concerns via email. Emails received are public information and may be accessed and read via the City of Loveland website. If you wish, search the city site for “Email Relay”.
You may expedite to the 3:57 mark of the meeting to see the remaining discussion.
As you listen to the discussion you will hear Mayor Marsh and Councilwoman Samson support community input and further discussion before the City Council and request a vote on the matter. Upon vote, seven councilmen do not support further dialogue, further information gathering nor allowing any further community input, and have prepared a ‘fast track’ through the City Planners office.
On March 23rd, 2022, The City of Loveland received two letters of intent from MRG, LLC for oil and gas projects.
Learn more: lovgov.org/oilandgas
Troy McWhinney's
fracking proposal
Troy McWhinney – a real estate mogul and entrepreneur – is in the beginning stages of applying for approval of a massive fracking project in the Centerra area of Loveland. The proposal includes (two sites with up to 26 wells) (UPDATE: permit for Centerra South pad has been withdrawn, Centerra East pad permit has been approved by the City of Loveland) to be located in close proximity to thousands of homes, the Medical Center of the Rockies, three schools, numerous businesses, and precious community lakes including Boyd, Houts Reservoir and Equalizer Lake. Watch Troy’s Zoom webinar to explain his plans.
On January 18th, the Loveland City Council voted in a 6-2 decision to allow the McWhinney application process to move forward without further expert study or discussion. This, despite outcry from local residents, many of whom feel blindsided by the McWhinney Corporation engaging in fracking in a community that was promoted as “environmentally-conscious” and dedicated to living harmoniously with nature. A significant portion of Centerra residents were attracted to this area for its many amenities.
Centerra should remain a peaceful community without industrial drilling on unsightly, filthy, and dangerous fracking pads. That’s why it’s more important than ever to bring attention to the McWhinney project as a betrayal of what this community stands for – embracing and enjoying its natural beauty, not fracking it.
Learn more about Colorado Rising's work across the state
Lifting our communities up by giving them the tools to fight for their land, water and air rights.
URGENT CALL TO ACTION:
11/29/23
NEWS:
During its 11/29/23 hearing, the state’s oil and gas regulators (Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission or ECMC), approved the McWhinney East (CE) pad within the city limits of Loveland. Loveland’s six-month O&G moratorium passed by City Council on 11/28/23 would not impact the East (CE) pad, which received conditional approval under the City of Loveland’s enhanced oil and gas standards in August 2023.
According to the ECMC Director’s Approval document, “MRG plans to begin construction in 4th quarter of 2023 with drilling and completions during 1st and 2nd quarter of 2024 and flowback and full production by the end of the 3rd quarter 2024.”
8/29/23
NEWS:
The City of Loveland has provisionally approved the McWhinney plan to frack the Centerra East site. 23 restrictions have been placed on the project in an attempt to protect the community and environment from the toxic and dangerous effects. Final approval from the COGCC is pending. Read more here.
3/27/23
NEWS:
McWinney has withdrawn its permit to drill on the Centerra South pad, saying that the land might be used for retail, mixed-use and residential instead. The application to drill on the second pad at the eastern edge of the Centerra development is still active, so the fight is not over! This is a developing situation, so please stay tuned. Read more here.
Troy McWhinney’s application for the Centerra East fracking pad is now accepting public comments through the City of Loveland and the COGCC. Centerra is named Colorado’s only certified Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. It is home to thousands of homes, schools, nearly 150 different species of animals, pollinators, and lakes. Fracking emits large amounts of toxic air pollutants such as methane, generates a lot of noise, which leads to loss of animal and plant habitats. Our health is connected to the way we treat our environment. The same air pollutants can lead to severe headaches, asthma symptoms, childhood leukemia, cardiac problems, and birth defects. That’s why it’s more important than ever to tell the City of Loveland and the COGCC – Don’t frack our suburbitat!
ACTION #1: Submit a comment to Loveland City Council TODAY urging the Council to protect Colorado’s only certified community wildlife habitat! Deadline to submit comments with the City is Jan. 16, 2023.
ACTION #2: Submit a comment to the COGCC TODAY telling them that we need clean air, clean water and a livable climate, not more air-polluting, water-wasting and climate-killing carbon bombs! Deadline to submit comments to the COGCC is January, 8th, 2022. Reference Docket # 220700198.
Protect Loveland from Toxic Fracking
The best available science warns us that fossil fuel development (and “fracking”) will only increase our already poor air quality, threaten local water resources, burden taxpayers, and speed up the catastrophic effects of climate change. Fracking your neighbors in Loveland will have far-reaching impacts on all aspects of our lives.
Write a letter to the editor
Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper amplifies your voice! Help educate your neighbors… put pressure on your elected officials… be heard… make a bigger difference!
We can help you with talking points, offer suggestions, or proofread your draft. Send us a message here to get started!