A significant milestone has been reached with Crestone Peak Resources Operating LLC, operating under the name Civitas, as their application for the State Sunlight Long oil and gas facility has now been declared complete. This proposed 35.21-acre drilling pad, to be situated roughly 1.5 miles from County Line Road and a little over 1.5 miles from South Powhaton Road in unincorporated Arapahoe County, could serve up to 32 oil and gas wells.
According to Arapahoe County, Civitas initially presented its Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan (CAP) to the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, the authority on oil, gas, and fracking in the region, back in October 2022. The commission gave its approval for the ambitious CAP on August 7, 2024. Moving forward, Civitas must navigate through applications for each specific pad site within the CAP, processing through both ECMC and Arapahoe County, and the State Sunlight Long pad is the inaugural application to be completed under Arapahoe County's stringent review procedure.
Arapahoe County’s Public Works and Development department is now parsing through Civitas's application, measuring it against a backdrop of comprehensive oil and gas rules laid out in the county's Land Development Code (LDC). In the space of two years, 2023 and 2024, the LDC has been fortified with rules around setbacks, and air and water quality monitoring, among other environmental safeguards, establishing Arapahoe as having the most rigorous oil and gas regulations in Colorado. These regulations emerged from extensive dialogue with both industry groups and community stakeholders, creating an objective framework to assess applications such as this one.
Though a contentious issue, the progression of this application signals both challenge and opportunity for Arapahoe County. As the first of its kind under the new, more restrictive regulations, the outcome of State Sunlight Long's application may well set a precedent for future oil and gas endeavors in the area. Civitas, for its part, continues to engage with regulatory bodies to fulfill the county's criteria for operation, aiming to bring the project to fruition under the watchful gaze of local oversight.
