An unexpected but hopeful twofer -----

[madamesilverspurs]

Yesterday there was this inquiry posted to the newspaper:

Action Line: Oil, gas conflict of interest?

QUESTION — Since Logan Richardson is a member of the Greeley-Evans School District 6 Board and an officer of Mineral Resources Inc., isn’t it a conflict of interest for him since his company is drilling beneath Frontier Academy property?

ANSWER — Well, not really. There are a couple of reasons:

» First, Frontier Academy has nothing to do with the school district in terms of authority or control. Frontier Academy has its own board of directors and governs itself. Richardson has no connection to Frontier Academy at all.

» Second, Richardson’s company had contracts with the school district long before he was elected, and he addressed the potential conflict during his election; he has recused himself from every vote involving oil and gas contracts.
http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/11082935-113/fence-academy-conflict-frontier


....Then, this afternoon, the newspaper posted this story to the online edition:

Mineral Resources pulls application for drilling near Frontier Academy Elementary School in south Greeley
...
“Weld Air and Water really celebrates with the Frontier parent group the withdrawal of this application,” said Sara Barwinski, spokeswoman for WAW. “We hope such proposal doesn’t see the light of day again. We hope there will be more public scrutiny the next time. But we are a little bit mixed. We don’t want this to be a way that the operator tries to avoid the public scrutiny.”

Mineral [Resources] was seeking approval from the Greeley Planning Commission to place 19 wells, 19 separators and 24 tanks on a new well pad about 500 feet from Frontier’s playground property line and 800 feet from the building at at 2560 29th St., just behind the 23rd Avenue Walmart. New drilling setback rules set by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission last year require operators to seek permission from the COGCC if they want to drill within 1,000 feet of a school, but Mineral Resources received initial approval for the site before the rules took effect last August.

In an email to The Tribune, Tyler Richardson said Mineral Resources planned to take a look at the proposal and see if there another configuration was possible. “This location is already approved by the State of Colorado (COGCC) and meets all the criteria required by the Greeley land use code,” Richardson said. “The location as proposed is safe and suitable for the its intended use and if we elect to move forward, the application should be approved as proposed. However, Mineral Resources will explore the concept of altering the configuration of the proposed use in order to increase the distance to the southerly property line of Frontier Academy to a minimum of 1000 feet.”
http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/11124447-113/mineral-frontier-resources-application

-------

We are pleased that our pleas seem to be gaining some ears. That said, we do not expect the extractive interests to cease operations. But we can't help but be encouraged that maybe, maybe something more positive may begin to happen.

[kimbutgar]

1. Sunlight is the best disinfectant

Turn on the lights and the kochroaches scatter....I mean cockroaches.