After seven hearings and contentious debate between oil and gas company Crestone Peak Resources and activist group Save The Aurora Reservoir, Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission voted to approve the State Sunlight-Long well pad.

A Tuesday ECMC hearing in which both organizations presented arguments to commissioners lasted five hours.

ECMC members voted 4-1 to stay the application for the well pad in December, suspending the application pending more analysis from Crestone.

On Tuesday, Crestone presented a series of changes to the location as well as the findings of alternative location analyses for the site, and the ECMC approved it 3-2.

The ECMC voted in August 2024 to green-light the Lowry Ranch fracking plan, which includes 32,000 acres of proposed subsurface mineral development with 10 locations and 166 new wells. The approval came after days of testimony and following years of pushback from area residents over the proposed operation.

Part of the plan includes drilling about 7,000 feet under the Aurora Reservoir and on land surrounding the reservoir, which drew opposition from nearby residents and their allies.

The State Sunlight-Long well pad was initially proposed to be about 35 acres and sit about 1.5 miles north of County Line Road and 1.6 miles east of South Powhaton Road in unincorporated Arapahoe County, according to Arapahoe County’s website.

In early January, Crestone representatives met with STAR representatives to talk through concerns, officials said.

In response, Crestone proposed reducing the number of wells on the site from 32 to 24 and moving the pad slightly eastward, Crestone Asset Development Manager Dan Harrington said Tuesday.

This would put the pad about 3,500 feet from the nearby housing development and 3,900 feet from the Aurora Reservoir, he said.

Having fewer wells also reduces the amount of pre-production time by six months, Crestone Director of Permitting and Compliance Nathan Bennett said. It also lessens pre-production truck trips by 5,300.

STAR, Crestone and Colorado Parks and Wildlife identified 11 possible alternative locations for the well pad, and Crestone analyzed all of them, Bennett added.

“Crestone maintains that the State Sunlight-Long location is the most protective location to protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment and biological resources,” Attorney Jamie Jost told commissioners Tuesday. “After seven hearings on this OGDP, there is no doubt that the State Sunlight-Long OGDP and the State Sunlight-Long location is the most vetted, most analyzed and most evaluated location by multiple local, state and federal stakeholders … and it continues to be an approvable and compliant application.”

Michael Foote, STAR’s attorney, said Crestone’s plan was still not enough, adding that it did not analyze alternative locations as seriously as it should have.

“Crestone’s preferred Sunlight-Long location is not protective of public health and does not follow the mitigation hierarchy,” Foote said. “Other locations avoid, minimize and mitigate adverse impacts much more effectively than Crestone’s preferred location.”

Rather than intentionally seek out better locations for the well pad, Foote said, Crestone found reasons the proposed alternative locations wouldn’t work.

“It’s telling how Crestone uses wildlife impacts, pipelines and roads as disqualifiers in its analysis of alternative locations, yet does not apply the same standards to its preferred location,” Foote said.

STAR officials’ biggest concern is the pad’s proximity to homes and the Aurora Reservoir, Foote said, and he urged commissioners to stay the application until Crestone found an alternative location that works.

Commissioner Mike Cross voted to approve Crestone’s application, saying it did a comprehensive job of looking at alternative locations.

“The fact that they’ve taken steps to specifically look at how they could work with STAR to make changes to try and allay some of the concerns is a good step in terms of being a good neighbor,” Cross said. “The applicant has met all of our rules, and all of Arapahoe County’s rules, it has done what the State Land Board has asked, CDPHE has said they’re OK with it, CPW has said they’re OK with it.”

Commissioner Trisha Oeth voted to stay the application, hoping for more information from Crestone about the alternative locations’ viability.

“While the information on the record gets me close to taking a position … I feel I can’t find today based on the information in the record that the applicant has met its burden to prove that the proposed location minimizes the potential impacts to the largest extent possible,” she said.