• Battlement Mesa Project
• Background Information
• Other Resources
• GVCA Brochure [pdf format 252 KB]

Grand Valley Citizens Alliance is WCC's affiliated community group in Garfield County.

Do you want to minimize the impacts of natural gas drilling on our county roads and residential areas?

Do you want to have a voice in decisions concerning oil-and-gas impacts on a county and state government level?

Do you want to protect our clean air and water in Garfield County?

Join the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance!

We actively work on a variety of issues:

• Air & water quality studies   
• Community organizing    
• Legislative issues
• Antero Energy Battlement Mesa Project
• Community Education    
• Membership & Outreach 

We meet the second Tuesday of each month at the Mesa Visa Assisted Living [72 Sipprelle Drive, Parachute] from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Visitors welcomed. We usually have a guest speaker to discuss current events or to inform us about industry practices.

To join GVCA and WCC or for more information, contact:

• Frank Smith, WCC Organizer at (970) 256-7650
• GVCA, PO Box 656, Silt CO 81652

Battlement Mesa Project

In May 2009, Antero Resources announced a proposed Comprehensive Development Plan that would include constructing ten well pads [map] and drilling over 200 natural gas wells within the residential area of Battlement Mesa. Some pads could be as close as 400 feet from homes and recreation areas.

Over 400 citizens demanded thorough analysis of potential impacts before any permitting decision.  In early May 2011, Garfield County commissioners voted to stop the first-ever Health Impact Assessment (HIA) for natural gas development.

Written by the Colorado School of Public Health at University of Colorado-Denver, the HIA quickly grew in breadth, as researchers began to realize natural gas development permeates all aspects of life in rural communities. The draft HIA contains over 70 recommendations including disclosure of chemicals, increasing setbacks from homes, involving citizens in drilling decisions, and decreasing emissions.

Bucket Brigade: With the help of WCC and Denny Larson of the Global Community Monitor project, Battlement Mesa residents now have a "Bucket Brigade" to monitor real-time air quality in their backyards. Collecting air samples in specially equipped five-gallon buckets, trained residents are now part of GCM's worldwide efforts to record pollution incidents.

For more information, contact Frank Smith at Western Colorado Congress, (970) 256-7650.

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Background Information

Formed in 1997 in response to reduction in well pad spacing from one pad per 320 acres to one pad per 40 acres, GVCA works to protect the quality of life in Garfield County for ALL residents by promoting best industry practices and responsible development.  

In addition to Battlement Mesa development, GVCA's current issues include:

• Educating the community about air quality degradation and related health impacts cause by natural gas development in order to build support for mandatory pollution control equipment.
• Demanding the placement of wellpads outside of the "no drill zone" around the Rulison nuclear blast site.

GVCA has won a number of important victories including:

• creating a Rifle/Silt/New Castle Community Development Plan that stipulates best practices and strategies to minimize negative impacts.
• assisting residents who were impacted by the now infamous West Divide Creek Gas Seep in 2004. The Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission placed a moratorium on drilling around the seep, and the largest fine ever placed on industry in Colorado is being spent on a hydro-geologic study of a large area between Rifle and Silt.
• pressuring the Garfield County Commissioners in 2002 to hire a Local Government Designee to help hold the gas industry accountable and manage development.
• instigating the formation of a roundtable between industry and citizens to share information and resolve disputes. The Garfield County Energy Advisory Board began its work in 2004.
• adding provisions to American Soda's pipeline permit in 1999 to increase environmental protections.
• winning the endorsement of all local municipalities for protection of the top of the Roan Plateau.

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Other Resources

• See Other Resources listed on Gasfield Justice page.
• High Country News [6/10/10] takes a look at gas drilling on Battlement Mesa in Garfield County..
• A map showing lands leased for oil/gas development and existing wells in Garfield County (courtesy of Colorado Environmental Coalition, January 2006).
• The film, A Land Out of Time, directed by Mark Harvey examines the fight for a balance between our country's desire for cheap energy and conserving the Rockies' premiere lands.

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Collateral Damage

Garfield County activist Tara Meixsell has published Collateral Damage: A Chronicle of Lives Devastated by Gas & Oil Development. She also recently returned from Australia where she networked with others impacted by gas drilling. [9/5/2010]