This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Longmont City Council voted 6-1 to approve the oil and gas agreement between the City of Longmont and TOP Operation Company and Cub Creek Energy.
Councilmember Joan Peck abstained from voting.
She stated that she voted to pass the first reading of the ordinance due to being approached by residents that wanted the wells removed out of public lands because of what happened in Firestone.
“So my vote on the first ordinance was to get rid of that gathering line and to get those wells out of our public lands,” Councilmember Peck stated. “But, this time tonight, I absolutely am against fracking under Union Reservoir, I’m going to vote against it. Because this time I am voting against fracking.”
Under the agreement, the City of Longmont will lease 516 acres of mineral rights, owned by the city, to Cub Creek Energy and pay TOP Operating Company $3 million.
The agreement is not a “no-fracking” agreement, but rather a “no-surface-level” agreement with TOP Operating Company and Cub Creek Energy; horizontal drilling could still occur from as far away as two miles from the city.
Mayor Brian Bagley stated that he was "not ready to declare victory yet", but that it was "a big step."
"People wanted it outta Longmont," Bagley said. "It's still 8,000 feet below Longmont, which is you know a mile and a half setback vertical, but it gets it away from our citizens."
Councilmember Tim Waters stated that he was not "going to pass on the chance to win one for Longmont" and that if council were to vote against the agreement, the city keeps “residents on the battlefield with a risk of casualties that we don’t have to take."
“While it is not a perfect solution and I hate the thought of drilling under Union Reservoir, I’m not passing on the win and I’m not going to take a position that I can’t defend to children and parents and residents of this community," said Waters.
Councilmember Marcia Martin, who voted for the agreement, stated that “the City needs to do what the city can” and that she would give her “right arm to stop fracking under Union Reservoir for this city.”
"People are drawing a false distinction between moral and legal issues, when in fact what we are dealing with is neither a moral nor a legal issue. We are dealing with an issue of power,” continued Martin. "The city does not have the power to stop fracking under Union Reservoir, because if it did, it would."
Councilmember Aren Rodriguez voted for the agreement because he believes “it is a good first step or a good step along the path.”
“That does not stop me in my stance and what will continue to be my direction that the City be as creative as possible and continue to push at all cost possible to get fracking outside of the city and out from underneath our city property as much as we humanly and possibly can do so within certain construct of the law,” Rodriguez stated.
Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Polly Christensen stated that "we are over a barrel and as councilmember Rodriquez said this is the first step."
"This was a negotiated agreement. We gave some, they gave some too. They gave a lot and we gave some too," Christensen stated.
Four people spoke during the public hearing of the ordinance.
“This agreement, I believe, is the best option we have on the table,” said Gordon Pedrow, former city manager of the City of Longmont. "But I request that you continue to remove oil and gas threats in our community."
"What is happening here tonight with the slight sigh relinquishment ordinance makes it all the more clear that we need to consider and implement a climate bill of rights," said Tom Stumph, Longmont resident. "The proposed ordinance does not protect the climate and it does not change any laws."
“I think the city did an incredibly good job of getting us the best deal that we could possibly or likely get at this particular moment,” said Strider Benston, a resident of Longmont.
Kim McGovernson, Longmont resident, stated: "there's an old saying that when you play with fire you are bound to get burned and I believe that is the sad reality of what is happening here."
