This is a transcript of public comment given by one of your Youth Advisory Committee leaders at the regularly scheduled Boulder Valley School District meeting on March 10, 2026:
Hi I’m Josie, I’m of the Arapahoe tribe and I’m a junior at Boulder High. I’m 17.
I’m here because of what’s been happening for decades outside some of our schools, and what this board has the power to do about it.
Oil and gas wells were here before most of our schools were built. The mistake was allowing schools to be built anywhere near these industrial sites. That decision was made by adults long before any of us were students in Boulder County, but we’re the ones living with the consequences.
The EPA recently repealed the Endangerment Finding, the scientific and legal foundation that limited greenhouse gas emissions and protects the air we breathe. Boulder County communities already face the risks of wildfires, flooding, and ozone pollution.
That’s why I’m asking this board to act locally. I’m calling on the Boulder Valley School District to support Colorado Rising’s Marginal Well campaign, which encourages oil and gas operators to plug and abandon low-producing wells near schools. These wells are prone to leaks and equipment failures. Methane, benzene, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) escape from aging wellheads and deteriorating gathering lines.
The data shows there are over 100 low-producing wells in Boulder County operated by SM Energy, which now owns both Crestone Peak Resources and Extraction Oil & Gas. Two of those wells are within 2,000 feet of Peak to Peak Charter Academy in Lafayette and Red Hawk Elementary in Erie. An additional 34 low-producing wells are within one mile of Boulder County schools.
A solution already exists. Through the ECMC’s Enterprise Marginal Well Plugging program, operators are reimbursed for the cost of plugging and abandoning these wells. There is no financial excuse for leaving them in place.
My fellow students deserve to go to school without an aging oil well next door. I’m asking this board to use its voice and call on these operators to act. Our future generations need leaders who are on the right side of history. To learn more, please visit coloradorising.org
