State application hearing scheduled
Conditional approval recommended for pad north of U.S. 34, west of Larimer County Road 3
An application for an oil and gas development in east Loveland has cleared one of its final hurdles at the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) and now faces a public hearing on Wednesday, according to a recent email from City Manager Steve Adams to City Council members.
Last week, the director of the ECMC, an agency formerly known as the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, issued a recommendation for conditional approval of the East (CE) well pad site, a project proposed by Mcwhinney subsidiary MRG LLC.
The proposed drilling pad is located north of U.S. 34 and west of Larimer County Road 3, on nonirrigated cropland near the Mcwhinney’s Kinston development. According to site plans, there will be up to 15 horizontal wells that will stretch several thousand feet to the west beneath Interstate 25.
The application for the East (CS) project was initially filed with the state and city of Loveland’s Development Services department in late 2022.
It underwent nearly a year of review under the city’s enhanced oil and gas guidelines, which include public input and consultations with, among others, Loveland Fire and Rescue Authority, Larimer County and state agencies, such as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The city issued a conditional approval of the application in August, along with a list of issues to fix before a permit is issued. Among other items, MRG will be required to use pipelines to transport oil and gas during production rather than trucks, use electric drill rigs to complete drilling, perform baseline air quality monitoring on a weekly basis and submit weekly reports to the city about spills, accidents or complaints.
Meanwhile, the application also made its way through ECMC’S review process during 2023, and underwent a few amendments. It also received dozens of public comments, mostly from
east Loveland residents opposed to the project due to strong concerns about the potential health and environmental impacts of fracking.
In its Nov. 20 recommendation, the ECMC director’s office noted that it reviewed MRG’S application for compliance with regulations around public health, safety, wildlife and the environment, finding it compliant in all areas.
The director’s office also analyzed five alternative locations proposed for the site, and found the East (CE) site to have the lowest impact on the surroundings.
However, MRG will need to include a soil test pit on site and provide soil data to ECMC as a condition of the approval.
The final decision on the application is up to the full ECMC commission at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning, which is open to the public
If approved, the city will be able to issue its permit for the site, though that could be complicated by a proposed moratorium on oil and gas applications and permits that will be considered by Loveland City Council on Tuesday.
To view the agenda for Wednesday’s ECMC hearing or information on attending or registering to comment, visit ecmc.state.co.us/hearings.html#/hearings.