Greeley council to hear appeal of rejected oil-well project

GREELEY — The Greeley City Council and what’s expected to be a crowded room will hear a Denver-based energy company’s appeal of its plan for a 22-well project in west Greeley that was rejected in January by the city’s planning commission.

Extraction Oil and Gas wanted to site the wells and associated tanks and equipment northwest of the intersection of 71st Avenue and 18th Street, in a lot surrounded on three sides by neighborhoods, in what it called the Triple Creek Directional Project. Two existing wells, nine well sites and tanks already are on the 69-acre property. Extraction proposed to put the wells on 14 acres of the tract currently zoned low-density residential and no closer than 1,000 feet from residences — twice the state’s requirements.

However, after hearing hours of complaints from neighbors at a pair of public hearings, the planning board unanimously rejected the project in January. Extraction Oil and Gas then appealed, taking its case to the city council.

The hearing before the council is to begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Greeley-Evans School District 6 administration building, 1025 Ninth Ave.

Extraction immediately wanted to install pipelines to send crude extracted from the site to the Platteville area, but decided that would be too expensive and changed the plan to include tanks on the site and trucks to haul the crude away. Much of the neighbors’ objections centered on the truck traffic, as well as the threat of leaks and declining property values. Proponents have expressed concerns about the precedent the rare rejection would create.

Both sides are expected to voice their views at the hearing.