We’ve seen a lot of questions and concerns appearing on Facebook and elsewhere about the impact of the Chapter 11 filing of Extraction and what that means to Broomfield residents. We compiled a list of questions in response to the concerns we’ve seen, and sent the following email (in italics below) to council and staff on 9/18/2020:
Hello council and staff,
Broomfield Concerned has been getting a lot of questions from residents about what steps the city initially took to ensure the financial solubility of Extraction before Broomfield approved the Operator Agreement as well as what impacts this bankruptcy will have on the residents of Broomfield. We’d like to work with you to offer them some answers as people seem understandably anxious about the situation. We are aware that there have been numerous questions on the state level as well regarding why the COGCC would approve permits to a company who may never financially have been able to complete the developments. I’m hoping someone from council or staff can shine a light on answers to the following questions so we can help our community better understand:
- What financial review process did the city go through before allowing Extraction to operate in CCOB, including the right to mine minerals on designated open space?
- What indicators led CCOB to believe Extraction was financially stable and not in any financial straits? Or was CCOB aware of the potential of financial issues?
- Was “financial stability” part of the risk analysis? If no, why not?
- What financial burden can taxpayers expect to shoulder now that XOG is filing chapter 11 and restructuring?
- Will tax revenues owed to the city from XOG still be paid? Are they past due on any money owed to the city?
- What overall impact can Broomfield residents, especially those closest to the development sites, expect to bear moving forward due to the chapter 11 filing?
- For impacted residents, especially those who have had recorded chemical exposures and are consistently experiencing health impacts, what safeguards are in place should clusters of cancer or other fracking-related health impacts begin to arise over the past few years? Who is accountable for addressing the financial impacts of evolving health impacts from this development?
We haven’t yet received a response or any answers to the email sent on 6/18/2020. We hoped to have answers for you by this point. The questions have not yet appeared on the dashboard as is customary with resident questions to the CCOB, so we expect that those questions will appear soon while staff and council work on getting us answers. CCOB has taken on transparency in oil and gas-related issues as a priority. Please feel free to submit your own questions or choose the questions above that you’d most like answered and submit them on your own behalf. Email council here: council@broomfieldcitycouncil.org.