Aurora Residents Protest Proposed Fracking Site
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Homeowners in an Aurora neighborhood scheduled a meeting on Tuesday to voice their concerns about a proposed drilling and fracking project coming near their homes.
The area is near 6th Avenue and Gun Club Road. Drilling is set to begin on several lots around both the Murphy Creek School and Vista Peak Prep School.
The streets are quiet out and the houses are nice, and residents say that's how they want to keep their neighborhood. Their list of worries about oil companies coming in is long.
It's an area where rural meets housing developments. The wide open spaces are an invitation to oil companies looking to drill.
"We've been out here since 2006, and of course the concerns about the neighborhood are the property values going down; who knows the chemicals that they're putting into the ground water," resident Bryan Scott said. "All of us, especially in this neighborhood, have young children."
Scott and his three sons spend a lot of time on their basketball court enjoying the exercise and the fresh air, but they worry what drilling will add to the air and bring to their neighborhood.
"Once wells are there they leak cancer-causing chemicals in the air -- benzene and propane and things like that," Gary Wockner from Clean Water Action said.
Wockner is taking action. He gathered residents for a meeting at one of the two nearby schools he says will be negatively impacted by this project.
"It's proposed to be right there at the Vista Peak School in Aurora and also at the Murphy Creek School in Aurora," Wockner said.
Scott says he's thought about trying to sell his house and move but he loves the neighborhood.
"There are a million reasons why we shouldn't be doing this," Scott said.
CBS4 contacted Anadarko Petroleum, the company hoping to drill. A spokesperson said that the company will work to protect the land, air and water as well as the health of families in the area.
