State regulators voted to delay a plan to drill 32 new oil and gas wells near the Aurora Reservoir on Wednesday, after nearly a year of sustained community opposition.
Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) voted 4-1 to postpone approving the State Sunlight/Long development plan, proposed by the oil company Civitas and its subsidiary Crestone Peak Resources. The delay, known as a “stay,” followed months of public comments, as well as several days of testimony and deliberations.
Residents cited health and safety impacts, proximity to schools and homes, climate change and other concerns in nearly 900 public comments. More than 250 people attended a public meeting in September, where residents and their children urged regulators to modify or deny the plan.
“Please move it, protect us and keep harm away,” said one 10-year-old from an Aurora elementary school in September.
The plan originally proposed building a new well pad less than a mile from the nearest homes in Aurora. But after Wednesday’s vote, the commission directed Crestone to analyze a different location for the well pad, which could be further away from homes.
Crestone seemed optimistic that after submitting additional information, they’d be able to win state approval.
“The State Sunlight Long development plan is undoubtedly the most vetted site in the state, if not the country,” said Rich Coolidge, a senior advisor at Civitas, citing several state and local reviews of the plan.
If the plan is eventually approved, the pad will be on Lowry Ranch, a sprawling, 26,000-acre open space that was once a Defense Department bombing range. It’s now owned by the state in unincorporated Arapahoe County, and generates millions in oil royalties every year.
It also directly abuts Aurora subdivisions. Some residents have vocally opposed any new drilling near their homes or close to the Aurora Reservoir, a recreation hotspot.
Randy Willard, president of the advocacy group Save the Aurora Reservoir (STAR), which opposed the plan, said they were pleased with the vote, which seemed to take into account community input. He said they would work to help find an alternative location.
“STAR remains ready to partner with industry and the ECMC to identify the most responsible and protective location for all,” he said in a statement.
Willard said it would take at least a few weeks for regulators to lay out next steps and for the company to submit more information.
More oil and gas drilling likely coming
The State Sunlight/Long plan is part of a larger effort to drill new wells over the next five years on the ranch.
Last year, state regulators approved a larger development plan, called the “Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan,” that allows Crestone to drill up to 166 wells across eight locations spread throughout the ranch.
Each location needs a specific plan before drilling can take place, and each plan must be approved by Arapahoe County and state regulators, who must take into account the environmental and health impacts of each site.
In 2019, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 19-181, which gave communities more say on where drilling takes place.
Another state law requires regulators to consider the range of consequences — known as the “cumulative impacts” — of oil and gas developments. Those rules, however, don’t apply to the State Sunlight/Long proposal, because they took effect after Civitas submitted its plan.
Prior to Wednesday’s vote, Civitas already had dozens of wells approved or under construction on the ranch. Those sites, however, were located further away from homes, unlike the State Sunlight/Long pad location.
Some residents feared the pad’s closer location put them at risk of an oil spill near their homes, like the spill that occurred in Galeton, Colorado, in April. Other public comments expressed alarm at the potential leukemia risks of oil and gas drilling, citing a 2025 peer-reviewed CU-Anschutz study.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry advocacy group, has strongly objected to that study, as well as previous ones linking oil and gas operations to health issues.
Regulators seemed poised to approve the plan for months. In May, Arapahoe County signed off on the plan, a key hurdle for its approval.
Crestone also modified its proposal after meetings with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and state health authorities. The company has agreed to power its drilling equipment with renewable energy or electricity from the grid, and will use pipelines to transfer oil away from the site after drilling.
In October, ECMC director Julie Murphy recommended that state regulators approve the plan if certain conditions are met.
