DENVER — Colorado's restriction on oil and gas drilling within 2,000 feet of a home or school is not exactly a firm 2,000 feet.
Kerr-McGee, a company controlled by Occidental Petroleum, paid a record $18 million fine for an oil and gas explosion that killed two people in Firestone in 2017. That company wants to drill in Firestone, closer than the 2,000-foot setback that is currently allowed.
When state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 181 in 2019, it changed how oil and gas operations would be regulated, with a focus on public health, safety, welfare and the environment.
The bill did not create a distance that oil and gas operations had to be from schools and homes. That was left up to oil and gas commissioners.
Last year, a 2,000-foot setback was put into the regulations, but allowed for exceptions.
"Oh, I like it all. I like Longs Peak," said Firestone resident Bill Frost.
Frost lives at Falcon Point at Saddleback, which backs a field with a view of the mountains.
Kerr-McGee wants to set up a drilling operation in the field, which is within 2,000 feet of 87 homes, with the closest home 763 feet away.
Frost would prefer that to a multi-family home development.
"I’m for the oil because a home would block my view of the mountains," said Frost. "Losing this view would be way more harmful to me than an oil field 2,000 feet that way."
"He should talk to some people that are actually experiencing oil and gas developments near their homes," said former Democratic State Senator Mike Foote, an environmental attorney.
Foote co-sponsored Senate Bill 181, which was passed two years after the Firestone explosion that killed Joey Irwin and Mark Martinez. The explosion was caused by an abandoned and severed gas line that was operated by Kerr-McGee. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) fined Kerr-McGee a state record $18.25 million.
"For the Firestone residents that went through a very difficult time a couple of years ago, it seems insensitive, at best, to have a much bigger operation, close to much more homes, than what happened in 2017," said Foote.
"An operator can show they are providing substantially equivalent protections under the new law," said Colorado Oil & Gas Association President Dan Haley. "That means they have to show the COGCC all the different ways they’re being protective of public health and the environment."
For oil and gas operations that are seeking a waiver to be within 2,000 feet of homes, the operator must show the commission how it will be protective of what Senate Bill 181 required.
"For example, using a traditional drilling rig, they might bring in an electric rig, which will be much quieter. They'll do continuous air monitoring," said Haley. "A lot of concerns are about those. sort of, nuisance issues: Why are there so many trucks going down the street? What is that sound that I'm hearing? So our operators can then go in and find ways to mitigate that and, again, show that they’re being protective of the public health and environment, which is the intent of Senate Bill 181," said Haley.
"We've seen this in other places, where there's operations that are 2,000 feet or closer to homes. Most recently, in a place like Broomfield, where there have been numerous, numerous resident complaints about noise and emissions in particular," said Foote.
The waiver consideration by COGCC is the last of a multi-step process for Kerr-McGee. It began with residential outreach in June 2021 and needed approval by the town of Firestone before reaching the COGCC.