Trail Ridge OGDP

Proposed By Chevron/PDC Energy in Weld County Near Gilcrest, Colorado

Action Alert: Public Comment

Public comment for each of the Form 2A applications for the Trail Ridge OGDP are open with the ECMC until September 21, 2026:

We’ll have talking points published soon!

Overview

PDC Energy, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron) has applied to Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) for an Oil and Gas Development Plan (OGDP) called Trail Ridge, covering roughly 7,186 acres in Weld County near Gilcrest and LaSalle, Colorado. Full application materials for the Trail Ridge OGDP are available at the ECMC Hearings eFiling System, by searching for Docket Number 260100022. The plan calls for 58 new wells drilled from three pads, which are part of the previously approved Guanella Comprehensive Area Plan (CAP):

Arenal Federal 4N66W16: an existing pad (currently the “Kawata 21-16 Pad,” with 10 producing wells) will be expanded to 18 total wells, with its own on-site equipment.
Maroon Bells 4N66W19: a new pad with 18 wells and a tankless design that pipes product to Redoubt Federal for processing.
Redoubt Federal 4N66W22: an existing pad (currently known as the FRITZLER-64N66W 22NWNW Pad) will be expanded with 32 new wells, the largest of the three locations.

All three locations sit within a Disproportionately Impacted (DI) Community, which triggers additional review requirements under ECMC’s rules as it did for the Cord Federal OGDP (see “Disproportionately Impacted Community,” below).

View a full version of the Trail Ridge OGDP map.

The Process

The Trail Ridge OGDP is a part of the previously approved Guanella Comprehensive Area Plan (CAP), which was approved by Weld County on November 21, 2022, and the ECMC was approved by the ECMC with Order 407-3416. As with the individual OGDPs in the Lowry CAP, PDC Energy is required to obtain Weld County and ECMC approval for each of the OGDPs in the Guanella CAP. A post-completeness community meeting for the Trail Ridge OGDP was held on September 1 at the Valley High School Cafeteria in Gilchrest.

FAQ

How much water will be used?

In their Form 2B Plain Language Summary filed June 16, 2026, PDC Energy estimates a total of 27,048,500 barrels (about 1.14 billion gallons) of water to drill and complete all 58 wells across the three Trail Ridge pads, for about 19.6 million gallons per well. Depending on timing, this may be Colorado’s first billion gallon OGDP.

Contacts

Questions about PDC Energy / Chevron’s plans for the Trail Ridge pads (Arenal Federal, Maroon Bells, Redoubt Federal):
Tammy Waters, Senior Permitting Coordinator
RBUDevPermitting@Chevron.com · 970-313-5521
Community Engagement Hotline
ColoradoInfo@chevron.com · 303-318-6100

Questions about Weld County’s 1041/WOGLA permitting of the Trail Ridge pads:
Kelly Holliday, Oil and Gas Energy Department
oged@weld.gov · 970-400-3582

If you’re not getting straight answers from any of the above, our team has been following this project closely and is happy to help. Feel free to contact us directly.

"Disproportionately impacted" status

All three of the proposed pads are located within a census block designated as a Disproportionately Impacted Community (DIC) under Colorado’s 2024 DIC map, based on a trigger of “people of color” over 40%. This status triggers specific, binding requirements on PDC Energy and the regulators reviewing this project:

What DI status requires:

A pre-application community meeting at least 30 days before the formal state application is filed (ECMC Rule 301.g.2). The community meeting held on November 5, 2025, at Valley High School in Gilcrest satisfied this condition.
A written Community Outreach Plan, which has identified a 7% linguistic isolation rate (households where no adult speaks English “very well”).
Either informed consent from residents within 2,000 ft of the site, or siting within an approved Comprehensive Area Plan with preliminary siting approval (per Rule 604.b.(2)), as PDC Energy intends to do in this case.
Year-round “Enhanced Systems and Practices” under ECMC Rule 316.c.3; these are stricter operating standards than apply outside DI communities.

Timeline

The Story Thus Far

October 23, 2025: PDC Energy holds a required pre-application meeting with the ECMC Director, attended by Weld County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and CDPHE staff.
November 5, 2025: PDC holds a required public open house at Valley High School in Gilcrest, ahead of filing, because homes sit close to all three proposed pads inside a Disproportionately Impacted (DI) Community.
January 29, 2026: PDC Energy files its original Oil and Gas Development Plan application with the ECMC for the Trail Ridge project, covering the Arenal Federal, Maroon Bells, and Redoubt Federal locations, along with three separate Drilling and Spacing Unit applications.
April 15, 2026: ECMC staff confirm the application is complete and consistent.
July 6, 2026: PDC files an amended application, revising the total well count for the project and for the Redoubt Federal location.
July 24, 2026: ECMC’s Director determines the application complete; ECMC issues the Notice of Hearing setting the case for October 28, 2026.
September 1, 2026: PDC holds a post-completeness community meeting at Valley High School in Gilcrest.
September 28, 2026: Deadline for any person or entity to file a petition to intervene or submit a public comment for Docket Number 260100022.
October 28, 2026: The Trail Ridge OGDP is scheduled for an ECMC commission hearing.

Proposed Drilling/Completions Schedule

Scant details are available about the proposed drilling and completions schedule; we’ll update as information becomes available.

Q2 2028: Construction begins at Maroon Bells, per PDC’s November 2025 notice to Weld County. This estimate predates the application amendments and hearing delay described above and has not been refiled since.
Q3 2028: Drilling begins at Maroon Bells.
Q4 2028: Construction begins at Arenal Federal and Redoubt Federal.
Q1 2029: Drilling begins at Arenal Federal and Redoubt Federal.
Q4 2029: Completion operations finish at all three pads.

More Information

We’ve assembled the documents below from application materials submitted to the ECMC; see the disclaimer below. Visit the ECMC Hearings eFiling System, select the DNRCOG Search for Docket Related Documents option and search for Docket 240500107 for a complete listing of docket-related documents.

Trail Ridge OGDP Map: A detailed map provided by our partners at EcoCarto showing the existing and proposed oil & gas infrastructure, as well as the health-risk radii, for the Trail Ridge OGDP near Gilcrest and LaSalle in unincorporated Weld County, Colorado.
November 5, 2025 Open House Summary: PDC’s summary of the November 5, 2025 open house attended by 14 community members.
Original Application: PDC’s original filing requesting approval of the Trail Ridge OGDP, submitted on January 29, 2026.
Amended Application: PDC’s current, corrected application, including the revised well counts described above, submitted on July 6, 2026.
Arenal Federal Form 2A Location Assessment: Site-specific assessment for the Arenal Federal pad: setbacks, alternative-location analysis, and disturbance acreage.
Maroon Bells Form 2A Location Assessment: Site-specific assessment for the Maroon Bells pad.
Redoubt Federal Form 2A Location Assessment: Site-specific assessment for the Redoubt Federal pad, the largest of the three locations.
ECMC Form 2B: Cumulative Impacts Data: Traffic, water use, and air-emissions data for the whole OGDP, broken out by pad.
Cumulative Impacts Analysis (Rule 315.b): ECMC’s required cumulative-impacts review, including the expanded evaluation areas around Maroon Bells and Redoubt Federal.
Form 2B Plain-Language Summary: PDC’s own non-technical, pad-by-pad summary of the Trail Ridge OGDP: location, well counts, and construction/production impacts, including its own water-use, noise, and air-quality figures.

Disclaimer

This webpage was compiled from publicly available application and permit materials from the ECMC. This page is for community information purposes only; it is not a substitute for reviewing the official permit documents at the ECMC.