Growing population in Adams 12 raises concern over oil, gas wells

THORNTON» Oil and gas production in the rapidly expanding suburbs north of Denver continues to rankle residents, with the latest concerns coming from leaders at Adams 12 Five Star Schools over a plan by an energy firm to drill for minerals under Horizon High School.

The school board for the 39,000-student district met Wednesday to consider signing a lease with Great Western Oil and Gas Co. that would enable the company to access 39 acres of mineral rights two miles under the school.

The board indicated it would proceed with the lease because it did not feel it had a choice to do anything else, given the energy industry’s rights under state law to gain access to underground oil and gas deposits.

“I don’t have to remind you that oil and gas decisions are not yours to make,” said Matt Sura, Adams 12’s outside legal counsel.

He said those decisions are the exclusive purview of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The district’s only option aside from leasing, Sura explained, would be to enter into “forced pooling” with Great Western, which essentially would make Adams 12 a partner in the extraction process and open the district up to liability should there be an accident.

“I feel we have no good option to say this is not what we want,” board President Kathy Plomer said.

She said a final decision would be made at the board’s next meeting, Sept. 20. The district would receive a bonus payment of nearly $200,000 from Great Western if it goes forward with the lease.

Ironically, objections to drilling near schools in Colorado’s fifth-largest district aren’t aimed at Great Western per se, given the company’s commitment to locating its well pad more than a mile from Horizon High. The district is more worried about potential industrial accidents near the district’s 50 or so other schools as growth continues at a rapid pace across Thornton, Westminster and Broomfield.

Adams 12 has seen an enrollment growth of 4,200 students since 2004 and expects an additional 1,300 students over the next five years. Meanwhile, companies continue to propose drilling activity in neighborhoods in Adams, Broomfield, Weld and Boulder counties, which are on the edge of the mineral-rich Denver-Julesburg basin that stretches across much of northeast Colorado.

In letters the district wrote to Thornton, Adams County and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission this summer, Adams 12 made clear that it is not satisfied with the state’s requirement that wells be at least 1,000 feet away from a school.

“The COGCC’s 1,000foot setback requirement from schools does not apply to school playgrounds, designated outdoor classrooms, athletic fields and outdoor lunch areas,” Superintendent Chris Gdowski wrote to Thornton leaders last month. “Clearly students playing outside on the school playground deserve the same protections as those that are within the school building.”

Adams 12 asked Thornton to adopt a special “school protection buffer” as part of updated oil and gas regulations the city approved in August — namely that the 1,000-foot setback be measured from a school’s property line rather than the building itself.

“We feel you’ve got athletes and students practicing out on these fields and that’s just as much an educational environment as inside the school building,” said Joe Ferdani, a spokesman for the Adams 12 district.

It’s an issue that has become increasingly poignant for Adams 12, given the fact that the woman injured in a Firestone home explosion in April was a teacher at Mountain Range High School in Westminster. The explosion, blamed on a nearby well’s improperly capped flowline, killed her husband and brother.

“Our entire school community mourns her loss of family members and prays for her recovery,” Gdowski wrote in his August letter. “The Firestone tragedy should serve as a call to action for our entire state.”

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association declined to comment on the school setback issue Wednesday.

It’s not the first time the district has had to deal with a request from an oil and gas company trying to access mineral rights under a school. In 2015, the district signed leases with two companies that wanted to use directional drilling to get to deposits under Horizon High and Century Mid- dle School. Gdowski penned a letter to about 7,000 families informing them of the deal while acknowledging that the issue has “raised concern for many residents within our community.”

The school setback issue came up in this year’s legislative session, when Rep. Michael Foote pushed a bill that would have set the 1,000-foot buffer at a school property line.

It died in a Senate committee after running into opposition from Republicans and industry lobbyists, he said.

“It’s crazy to put a heavy industrial operation close to athletic facilities, modular classrooms or playgrounds,” Foote said Wednesday. “There are a multitude of issues that can occur with oil and gas drilling, from fires to toxic vapor releases.”

In 2014, an oil storage tank fire in Frederick — about 1,800 feet from Legacy Elementary — put teachers and students on orders to “shelter in place.” That same year, parent fury over a plan to drill 19 wells within 900 feet of an elementary school in Greeley prompted Mineral Resources Inc. to withdraw its application for a drilling permit.