A controversial plan to drill up to 166 oil and gas wells near the Aurora Reservoir was approved by the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission on Wednesday, but on the condition that operator Crestone Resources provide electricity to its facilities.

The commitment to electrify the company’s drilling and production operations would reduce air emissions and noise – two concerns raised by residents – and makes the plan “significantly more approvable from a comprehensive cumulative impacts perspective,” said ECMC Chairman Jeff Robbins.

Crestone, a subsidiary of Denver-based Civitas Resources, had filed a so-called comprehensive land use plan (CAP) for 166 wells on 32,000 acres, including the state-owned Lowry Ranch.

To enable regional planning and better assessment, coordination and management of the cumulative impacts of large-scale drilling plans, CAPs were added to state regulations.

The Lowry Ranch plan, however, faced strong local opposition. At a commission hearing in May at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds, about 300 residents attended and testified for more than three hours – almost all of whom opposed it.

When Crestone received an oil and gas lease from the Colorado State Land Board for the 26,000 acres of Lowry Ranch in 2012, there were hardly any homes in the area. Today, there are an estimated 12,000.

Crestone has already drilled and fracked 17 horizontal wells on the ranch and plans to drill the new wells by 2029 from two existing and eight new platforms.

A group of more than 500 residents formed the organization Save the Aurora Reservoir. The group won the right to attend the commission hearings as an “affected person” and hired an attorney to make a presentation and interview witnesses from Crestone.

Jaime Jost, Crestone’s attorney, called STAR “an activist group trying to stop oil and gas development in Colorado.”

STAR argued, citing experts, that there were gaps in the plan that left residents unprotected and that the cumulative impacts of all the drilling, wells, truck traffic and ongoing work had not been properly calculated.

“We are devastated by the commission’s decision,” said Marsha Goldsmith Kamin, president of STAR. “This is without a doubt the wrong decision for the health, safety and environment of our community.”

Despite STAR’s objections, the Commission concluded that Crestone had substantially complied with the CAP requirements, although Commissioners expressed displeasure with gaps in the plan.

“I still think it complies with our rules and can be approved,” said Commissioner Mike Cross. “I hope the operator understands that we are not just looking for a minimum number of checkboxes.”

Commissioner John Messner disagreed, saying the plan lacks “commitments and evidence on many fronts” showing that it avoids, mitigates or minimizes potential cumulative impacts.

In July, commission director Julie Murphy recommended approval of the drilling plan, saying it met “all applicable requirements.”

Commissioner Brett Akerman expressed concerns about gaps in the plan. “Make no mistake, I believe that an approvable CAP is in front of us, if not immediately, then certainly in the near future,” he said. Ackerman suggested sending the plan back to Crestone for further work.

However, Robbins said the commission could not send the plan – which was essentially compliant with state and local regulations – back to Crestone if it could not provide the operator with detailed instructions on the necessary additions.

Akerman said one of his concerns was that the proposed series of building lots – while well exceeding the 2,000-foot setback required by the state – was “very close to residential areas.”

The comprehensive site plans are not a final approval, Robbins said. For each drilling platform, Crestone must obtain approval of an oil and gas development plan (OGDP). That would be the time to discuss the platform’s location and other issues raised in the hearing, such as noise, fire and animal welfare.

“We feel like the ECMC is going to look closely at every single OGDP, so we’re not giving up,” said STAR’s Goldsmith Kamin. “We’re going to keep pushing.”