Proposed plans for the Extraction Draco Oil and Gas Development, known as the Draco Pad , include drilling 26 horizontal wells using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, beneath the Town of Erie, with wellbores extending across the county line into Boulder County. This would mark the first drilling in Boulder County in more than 10 years. Because the drill pad would be located just outside Erie’s borders in unincorporated Weld County, Boulder County has no authority over permitting or operations, according to officials.
Instead, oversight and approval fall to Weld County and the state’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission . Weld County approved the pad in February. The commission’s decision, originally set for Nov. 6, has been postponed to Nov. 13. The public can still comment at the meeting but must register by noon on Nov. 12.
The proposed location for the Draco Pad is the Crestone Hub, northwest of County Roads 6 and 7 in unincorporated Weld County. Wellbores would reach depths of about 8,000 feet and run horizontally west for around five miles, extending up to two-and-a-half miles into Boulder County. According to Erie Protectors , an advocacy group opposing the project, five-mile laterals have not been drilled in Colorado before.