Story: The Perspective of a Neighbor Rick
My property backs up to the recently approved Triple Creek Oil and Gas project putting my home at or within 1100 feet of this industrial size complex. This site is surrounded on all sides by residential housing. A large number of our neighbors have children. We also have three schools, University, Frontier and Northridge. We also have an assisted living complex and shopping center all of which access 71st Avenue. Why do I point this out? Because 71st Avenue, which is a small 2 lane street, is where the 200,000+ round trip 18 wheelers will be accessing the drill site!
Our neighborhoods have fought the placement of this site for over 2 years. We played by the rules and were successful in getting our City Planning Committee to deny the site on a 6-0 vote. Their decision was supported by a Greeley Tribune straw poll taken in December (2015) where 70.74% of the respondents voted against the location of the Triple Creek drilling site (892 out 1261). Our City Council, however, on an appeal, by the oil and gas operator, failed in a 5-2 vote to uphold their appointed Planning Committee Members decision.
The biggest travesty in all of this is that the Governor’s Statewide Task Force and the COGCC which is funded with state tax payer’s money has failed to protect homeowners and neighborhoods. If this location is a litmus test for siting oil and gas wells it can happen in any neighborhood.
This is the first UMA site on the Front Range. We were hopeful, that on our appeal to the COGCC, that we would get the COGCC, at the very least, to stipulate mitigations that they wrote. This is a UMA site and, according to the COGCC, a UMA site is held to higher standards which include best available technology and seriously searching for alternative sites. THE COGCC has failed to apply either of those standards on the Triple Creek site.
My wife and I chose the purchase of this house with the strong intent that this was going to be a retirement home for us. The property behind our house was zoned R-L-residential low density. There was no reason to ever believe that an industrial size oil and gas complex would be located behind our house. Our life has been disrupted, to say the least, for the last 2 years as we and local neighbors fought this site for the obvious reasons. Our future now has 2 choices!
Choice #1. Be forced to sell
Colorado is in a housing boom due to the obvious growth. In a recent publication by “The Group Real Estate Company in Fort Collins, Greeley, Fort Collins and Loveland are near the top in price appreciation. In fact Greeley is ranked 6th nationally in the article. However, my next door neighbor who also backs up to the drill site, is selling his house for nearly $30,000 under appraised value after having a similar offer pulled after the previous buyer found out about the oil and gas site.
I have learned that there are two things you need to know if you are trying to sell your home and your home is in a direct line of site to a drill site such as Triple Creek. (1.) You would not want to sell your home during the drilling period as there is an obvious potential for a loss in value due to the oil & gas construction site. (2.) Once the wells are in production, intuition is a major factor in home values and sales. Therefore, buyers would see value in homes in or near neighborhoods where there are golf courses, open spaces and ponds but they would not see the same value in 22 oil wells and 22-44 crude oil tanks in their neighborhood or backyard. Homes like mine will lose value and prospective buyers based on the location of this site.
Choice #2. Remain in our home
Live with this site; Inheriting the 24 –7 noise from the drilling and fracking, unsafe traffic conditions and bright lights for close to 3-4 years. In addition, we will be subjected to any potential health problems that may develop for some individuals, as well as the visual impacts of this enormous industrial well site for the next 25-30 years.
I have a hard time understanding why an industry like oil and gas is allowed to benefit while home owners and families are harmed and damaged. I certainly have a hard time accepting that our Governor and the tax funded COGCC do everything to protect the oil and Gas industry while failing to protect the families/homeowners who elect and fund them.