Parents Ask Community for Input Against Drilling Near School

A message from the Frontier Parent Group. Receive  their Instruction Letter Action Alert with more information by emailing:  fpg.parentgroup@gmail.com 

Please help us to protect our school and our community...

Our children deserve a safe, healthy, noise and pollutant free

 environment to study and learn!

"The new Mineral Resources proposal [to drill near Frontier Academy] is for 19 wells, 20 tanks and 19 separators. Plans show the site to be 1,512 ft from the school building and a little over 1,000 ft from the playground. On 6/16/14 Mineral Resources filed a location assessment permit (form 2a) with the COGCC – Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. This file is being reviewed by COGCC and is currently open for public comment.

We are asking parents, concerned community members, grandparents, local business owners, people who shop at local businesses (the proposed well site is 586 ft away from Walmart), anyone concerned, to VOICE their CONCERNS to COGCC via their online comment form.

The only way we will be able to be effective is if people show their involvement and worries for this location. Please, if you have any concerns with this location, now is the time to voice it! Your comment will become part of the public record of the application. Your name and e-mail address, if entered, will not be visible to other public users.

The deadline for comment is July 28.

Click on South Greeley Directional File # 400604803 to access it. After a few seconds you will be redirected to the correct page, then click on comment on the right, and then New Comment to add your own.


On 7/1/14 Mineral Resources filed for the USR (Use by Special Review) with the City of Greeley. The file is under review and a hearing date will be determined.

Chance to Speak out Against Drill Site Near Frontier!

Mineral Resources, Inc. wants to place a large oil and gas drilling operation just 478 feet away from the Frontier playground, but the explosion near Lucerne proves that oil and gas wells near homes and schools are a recipe for disaster! Even if there is no calamity, there are still fumes emitted from the tanks and separators that are harmful to all in close proximity, especially young children!


In April, the Greeley Planning Commission will very likely grant the permit that will impact you and your children’s health and safety, unless parents and residents show their outrage, and show up in large numbers to speak out against it!

April 22 at 1:15 p.m.
Council Chambers of the Lincoln Park Annex building,
919 7th St.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission already gave their approval to place up to 67 wells with 32 oil tanks, and 30 separators on the site! Click here. Make sure Greeley does not lend theirs!

Learn why you should be concerned about Oil & Gas drilling in your neighborhood, or by your children’s school, and speak out against drilling at the upcoming public hearing!

The proposed South Greeley Directional Project at 27th Ave. & 30th St. next to Frontier Academy and Walmart. Marker A is the location of the well bore.

19 wells
24 oil storage tanks (red dots)
19 separators (yellow stripes)

This photo left shows only 8 oil storage tanks. The pad near Frontier will have three times as many!

 

There will be 19 separators, about the same number as can be seen on the photo right. They all emit harmful VOCs that anyone in such close proximity will inhale.




Also see: Where Do the Children Play
               67 Gas Wells Planned Near Frontier School and Walmart

Last but not least, a recent health study shows:

"an association between density and proximity of natural gas wells within a 10-mile radius of maternal residence and prevalence of Congenital Heart Defects and possibly Neural Tube Defects. [Most children with neural tube defects die or experience serious disability.] Access the report here.

Notice on the photo below that even the kids at Brentwood Middle School are still only half a mile away from the toxic emissions!

Where Do The Children Play?

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than
 the way in which it treats its children." 

 ~Nelson Mandela~

Remember that old Cat Stevens song, 'Where do the children play?' written in the 70s when urbanization devoured the natural spaces where kids used to play? A similar thing, but much worse, is happening now with the industrialization of towns, as multiple gas wells are drilled near homes, and schools!

Greeley already has over 400 gas wells and many more are planned. These installations with flares, gas separators and condensation tanks, emit noxious fumes that are unhealthy to breathe, and the 'flowback' water from fracking that needs to be disposed of contains harmful substances as well.

Dr. Theo Colborn and others found that 37% of the chemicals used during drilling, fracturing and production were found to be volatile, with the ability to become airborne.

Of those:

• 81% can cause harm to the the brain and nervous system
• 71% can harm the cardiovascular system and the blood
• 66% can harm the kidneys

So, where then will the children of Frontier Academy play  if the Greeley Planning Commission, and Greeley City Council allow 67 gas wells to be drilled just 350 ft away from their playground and garden?

Overview of the Frontier Academy playground and garden.  In the distance 

(center in photo) is the Walmart building.

Will it be safe for them to be outdoors during the 24/7 drilling process which involves fumes from diesel engines, lots of truck traffic, and later also the dangers of silica exposure from the many tons of sand needed for the fracturing?

Diesel engine at Island Grove .

After the wells are completed, 32 oil tanks and gas separators will be located only 500 ft away. It is shocking to think that our city council members condone this, and willfully ignore a study by Dr. Lisa McKenzie, that shows that people living within half a mile of just a single gas well are at higher risk for health issues, including cancer, than people living farther away.

Frontier gardening shed decorated with children's hand prints.

Frontier's kids and staff will be spending several hours a day within just one tenth of a mile radius of 67 wells, and so will many Walmart employees. Half a mile out from the site still reaches many residents who live in the Evans neighborhood, south of 32nd street, people shopping at the Greeley Mall, and even students attending Brentwood Middle School..

The Greeley Geographic Information Systems map below shows the proposed drill site as a red X and the half mile distance to Brentwood Middle School..

See what such a mega site will look like if we do not protest it!

• 67 Gas Wells Planned near Frontier School and Walmart

As a community we should do what we can to safeguard kids from the harm that can come from being too close to gas and oil wells.  Join Weld Air and Water to stay informed and take action.