Monday, July 16, 2012

County Commissioners to Vote on the 4 Shell Wells - Wednesday 10AM

IMPORTANT NOTICE --

Please attend the Huerfano Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on July 18, 2012
at 10:00 AM at the courthouse in Walsenburg.

This meeting is critically important because the BOCC will be deciding whether to
approve conditional use permits (CUPs) for the four Shell oil wells in the Gardner area.

There is no public hearing on these permits.

Planning Commission (P&Z) has reviewed the CUPs and has recommended the BOCC
attach the following eleven conditions of approval to each CUP: (this is draft language,
not exact)

1. A $7,500.00 performance bond per well (or a $30,000 blanket bond for all four
wells), in addition to an agreement that Shell will maintain, repair or upgrade all
the roads it uses to county standards. This includes dust mitigation on all roads,
especially roads near residences

2. All wells shall use a closed loop system

3. Any dumpsters placed on the well site shall be bear-proof

4. The weed control plan shall include lands within 750 feet of the well site and
along all roads used by Sehll for drilling or hauling operations for the life of the
well.

5. Noise mitigation measures shall be utilized at all well sites to meet minimum
standards set forth in the current Oil and Gas Regulations

6. No produced water may be used on county roads without first meeting the Clean
Water act and be approved by the State Health Department

7. Comply with Dark Sky policy by directing lighting away from residences

8. Notification shall e given to the County if fracking is to occur and should be
approved by the County

9. Failure to comply with any of these conditions may result in revocation of the
permit

10. Any major changes to any well shall require notification to the county and
approval by the county

11. Construction must begin within one (1) year of permit approval

CHC supports these eleven conditions, and we hope that the commissioners will take
P&Z’s recommendation to attach them to each of the permits.

See you Wednesday 10:00AM at the Courthouse.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Bonnie Raitt Benefit to Support CHC!

BONNIE RAITT TO HOST BENEFIT RECEPTION AUGUST 26 TO SUPPORT ANTI-FRACKING ORGANIZATIONS IN COLORADO

Legendary singer Bonnie Raitt and her band will be performing at the Red Rocks
Amphitheater in Morrison, CO on Sunday August 26th. Bonnie will host a special benefit reception following the show in support of regional organizations that are working to protect Colorado from the threats of hydraulic fracturing to extract gas and oil. The organizations include Citizens for Huerfano County (CHC) and the GrassRoots EnErgy activist Network (GREEN).

Bonnie Raitt is touring again in 2012 after a two year respite and premiering her new
album Slipstream which was released this spring. She has an amazing 58 other
recordings. She is a nine-time Grammy winner and inductee into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. She is well known, long time social change activist and is a founding member of The Blues Foundation and Musicians United for safe Energy among others. Visit http://www.bonnieraitt.com/ for more information on her tour dates, benefit history, discography and more.

Citizens for Huerfano County (http://www.huerfanofrack.org/), a CO non-profit, was one of the first grassroots groups to organize in response to the new oil and gas boom in Colorado, when, in June 2011, citizens became aware of a potentially massive (150,000 acres leased), oil and gas drilling/fracking play that could destroy the health of their communities, ecosystems, and unique cultural and historic values. CHC’s work has included: a legal battle requiring the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) enforce its own rules and claiming the people’s right to hearings in oil and gas matters that impact them, pressing for strengthening local and state oil and gas regulations, ongoing research, outreach and education, responding to new drilling applications, and helping communities prepare for and defend against oil and gas drilling impacts through initiatives such as well-adjudication and county-wide baseline water testing.

The GrassRoots EnErgy activist Network (GREEN), a project of the Renewable
Communities Alliance (http://www.renewablecommunities.org/), provides strategic legal,policy and media support to a growing number of communities impacted by oil and gas drilling/fracking in Colorado. GREEN has worked with grassroots groups across the state including Erie Rising, Longmont ROAR, Commerce City/Adams County United
NOW, Elbert County Oil and Gas Interest Group (ECOGIG), WTFrack!?, Routt County
Frack, Colorado Springs/El Paso County, Denver and Boulder Community Rights
groups and others fighting to protect communities or even ban the dangerous practice of hydraulic fracturing in CO.

The Guacamole fund has worked with Bonnie and other members of the musicians’
community for over 35 years for peace with justice, the environment and a non nuclear future. More information is available at http://www.musiciansunited4safeenergy.org/,
http://www.nukefree.org/ and http://www.guacfund.org/