Two Great Horned Owls (GH Owls) are nesting in a tree on private property that is adjacent to where Extraction is building its pipeline and access road on private property. The Open Space staff and Extraction have developed a plan to minimize disturbance to the nesting GH Owls. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff was consulted. It was confirmed that CPW does not have a buffer guideline between development and nesting GH Owls. CPW noted that, "Because of GH Owls adaptability and high tolerance for human activity, we do not have a recommended spatial buffer zone for an active nest in contrast to other raptor species..." However, GH Owls are also federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which prohibits their harassment, take, or nest destruction. CPW noted the construction activities could be delayed or a qualified biologist could monitor the nest during construction. The following plan was developed based on the idea of Extraction utilizing a professional biologist.
This plan was also presented to the Open Space and Trails Advisory Committee on February 28:
COGCC DOAA Hearing Update
The hearing on the Broomfield County Commons being designated outside activity area (DOAA), on which no surface oil and gas development can occur, has been scheduled Monday, March 11, 2019, at 4 p.m. before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The hearing is scheduled for a half hour and will be held at the following address:
Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center
Department of Law
First Floor
1300 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
Community Meeting on Risk Assessment for Extraction Operations in Broomfield
On March 22, 2019, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., City Council will hold a Community Meeting on Risk Assessment for Extraction Operations in Broomfield. The Community Meeting will be held in the City Council Chambers. The risk assessment was conducted for Broomfield by DNV GL USA* (DNV-GL) and was presented to City Council on February 19, 2019. The Study Session memo and risk assessment report can be viewed
here.
Written questions are encouraged and can be submitted until 5 p.m. March 18, 2019, via email to
oilandgas@broomfield.org
.
The panel for the Community Meeting will include Cynthia Spitzenberger and Marisa Pierce from DNV-GL, and Barbara Ganong, a petroleum engineer, who worked on Broomfield's behalf in the development of the risk assessment.
Broomfield contracted with DNV-GL to conduct a risk assessment of Extraction's well sites:
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To identify risks and mitigation measures associated with those risks;
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To identify risks associated with recent oil and gas incidents in other parts of Colorado and any additional mitigation measures;
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To own a professional third party risk assessment associated with a new oil and gas development to use further in policy efforts; and
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To identify other mitigation measures that should be added to Broomfield's regulations.
(*DNV GL USA is a global quality assurance and risk management company.)
