Save The Aurora Reservoir


What the Disappointing Conclusion to Colorado’s Cumulative Impacts Rulemaking Means for Aurora 

We’re sorry to report that, despite many powerful arguments and persuasive evidence for more regulatory protections, the ECMC decided to adopt a version of the rules that was most favorable to the industry. “While some progress was seen in the rules, such as requirements for baseline testing, in many situations the rules are a step backward,” said Randy Willard, STAR Program Director. “STAR will continue to monitor the evolution of rules and regulations applicable to fracking in Aurora, including Arapahoe County’s proposed oil and gas industry regulatory amendments.”

Before diving deeper into the outcomes, let’s go over a few key understandings.

The term cumulative impacts refers to the total sum of measurable effects that oil and gas operations have on humans, animals, air, water, and communities. Colorado is one of the only states to require quantitative analysis of cumulative impacts as part of the permitting process for oil and gas projects. Unfortunately, the rules determined by the ECMC have a very limited definition of “cumulative impacts” that is, arguably, not at all comprehensive. Moreover, the rules leave measurement and analysis of the impacts up to the operator, who has a financial incentive to understate adverse effects. 

However, as of summer 2024, there was still no established definition of cumulative impacts that the commissioners could look to when evaluating the applications submitted by oil and gas operators. This allowed operators to mostly lean on what they call “best management practices,” which represent the industry’s standard operating procedures and are not governed by any regulations. This is something we saw first-hand during the Lowry Ranch Cumulative Area Plan (CAP) hearing.

STAR, along with other nonprofit organizations, was granted the opportunity to submit arguments as an affected party to the proceedings. We are grateful to have been represented by the Getches-Green Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Some of the provisions that STAR argued should be included in the final rules:

  • A requirement to consider traffic impacts, including emissions from trucks used to transport fresh water, crude oil, gas tanks, and produced water to and from the site.
  • Expanded survey requirements that would consider impacts beyond a one-mile radius.
  • Retroactive reporting on the actual cumulative impacts of previously approved operations, as a way of gauging the accuracy of the analyses performed by operators and increasing transparency.
  • Explicitly giving the ECMC the power to deny applications that they deem would be too harmful to the environment and local community.

Unfortunately, none of these provisions were written into the final rules.

Because the Lowry Ranch CAP was considered and approved prior to the establishment of cumulative impacts rules, no firm definition of cumulative impacts was applied to that decision. The new rules will apply to all individual oil and gas development plans (OGDP) submitted to the ECMC on or after December 15, 2024. STAR intends to actively participate in the state and county processes for all well applications within the Lowry Ranch CAP boundaries. We will not hesitate to contest any applications within Arapahoe County as part of our continued mission to safeguard the Aurora Reservoir and its surrounding communities from the true cumulative impacts of industrial development. 


We are not alone in the belief that our state and local governments must place the welfare of their constituents above all else when considering proposals for residential fracking projects. For more information, we recommend the following articles from news outlets and other concerned non-profit organizations.