NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF LONGMONT
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Longmont city staff members are working with local oil and gas operators to ensure the closure of the last two active oil and gas wells in Longmont.
The Tabor #7 and Stamp #31-2C are aging wells drilled in the 1980’s, which have produced minimal volumes of oil and gas during the last few years. The Tabor #7 oil and gas well, which is located just south of the Innovation Center off Quail Road, began the plugging and abandonment process on June 23, 2021. The process typically takes less than a week and the City of Longmont has agreed to pay half of the plugging costs for the Tabor #7 well. The Stamp #31-2C well, which is located on the northwest side of Union Reservoir, is scheduled to begin plugging and abandonment work on Monday, June 28, 2021.
In order to plug the wells, a workover rig will be present at the sites. This is a tall piece of equipment that will likely be visible to many residents from Union Reservoir and Quail Road. The wells will be plugged and all tanks, pipes, and other oil and gas related infrastructure will be removed from the sites. Any historical contamination discovered during this process will be remediated and the sites will be returned to a natural state with the addition of clean soil and native grass seed. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) will be supervising the plugging of both wells and the City of Longmont has contracted Terracon to provide third-party oversight on any remediation that may occur.
"Closure of the last two oil and gas wells in the City of Longmont culminates years of effort by council members, staff, and residents," Longmont Deputy City Manager Dale Rademacher said. "This was made possible by the use of both regulations and innovative legal agreements to minimize oil and gas surface operations in the city."
One of the legal agreements used to eliminate oil and gas surface impacts in Longmont is the Site Relinquishment Agreement entered into in 2018. With this agreement, local operators (Cub Creek Energy and TOP Operating) agreed to plug and abandon eight existing oil and gas facilities, withdraw forced pooling applications, and relinquish the right to drill up to 80 permitted oil and wells gas at locations around Union Reservoir.
In return for Cub Creek’s agreement to keep oil and gas surface operations outside city limits, the city agreed to use oil and gas royalties to provide financial compensation to TOP Operating once all the provisions of the agreement were met. Plugging the Stamp #31-2C well was one of the requirements of the agreement. The agreement also prohibits TOP Operating and Cub Creek Energy from applying for or conducting oil and gas operations anywhere in the city.
Similarly, plugging of the Tabor #7 well was motivated by a legal agreement in which Longmont agreed to pay for half of the plugging costs to the well owner, KP Kauffman, who also relinquished the right to drill anywhere in Longmont.
"Taken together, Longmont’s legal agreements, municipal code requirements, and the new COGCC 2000 foot setback rules severely restrict, if not prohibit, future oil and gas surface operations in the city," Rademacher added.
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