Arapahoe County approves Remora pipeline with wildlife safeguards
Commissioners unanimously approved the roughly two-mile project Aug. 11, subject to easement, wildlife-survey and construction-monitoring conditions; the records leave long-term groundwater oversight unclear.
The Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved Remora Connections’ roughly two-mile pipeline project Aug. 11, subject to conditions addressing easements, wildlife protection and construction monitoring. Five commissioners were present.
The BOCC adopted Resolution 26-203 for Case UASI25-003, identified in county records as Remora Connections’ Use by Special Review. The published meeting record records the action, and the county case file lists the resolution as passed.
The Planning Commission voted 6-0 July 7 to recommend approval. County meeting materials say the project would connect a Remora facility in Arapahoe County to an existing Rocky Mountain Midstream compressor station in Adams County, reducing the need for oil-and-gas truck trips. Construction is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is expected to take six to eight weeks.
Easements and route
County engineering documents describe a 10,651.68-foot alignment — about 2.02 miles — from the Remora pad to the Watkins Compressor Station at 2150 Manilla Road in Adams County. The route would cross or approach I-70, N. CR 121/N. Schumaker Road, South Last Chance Road and N. Peterson Road.
The county application and plan materials describe a 30-foot permanent easement and temporary construction workspace. The application lists five Arapahoe County parcels with recorded easements and says executed easements must be submitted to the county.
Under the approval conditions, the applicants must secure all necessary property rights and pipeline easements before the Use by Special Review is signed. Work in county rights-of-way, including N. CR 121/N. Schumaker Road, also requires a county license agreement.
The records contain inconsistent route descriptions, including differing road references and one conflicting township-range reference. The signed final plans should resolve those discrepancies before construction begins.
Wildlife conditions
The approval requires surveys and seasonal construction limits for mule deer, swift foxes, migratory birds, raptors and burrowing owls.
If construction occurs from Dec. 1 through April 30, the applicants must survey for mule deer and provide the results to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the county Planning Division. Construction or grading is barred during that period if mule deer are present, unless CPW advises that the survey does not justify the restriction.
Work from March 15 through June 15 requires a swift fox den survey. An active maternal den would trigger a prohibition on encroachment, surface disturbance or construction within one-quarter mile unless CPW advises otherwise. The conditions also establish protections for bird nests, raptor nests and burrowing owls, including a 200-meter buffer around burrowing-owl nests between March 15 and Aug. 15 when owls are found.
Applicants must make reasonable efforts to fence trenches or otherwise keep animals out of construction areas where the route overlaps wildlife corridors or winter concentration areas. Open trenches must be checked daily for trapped wildlife.
Groundwater and oversight
During the Planning Commission hearing, an applicant representative said baseline water-quality studies would be conducted before and after construction and that the operator would monitor the pipeline over its life. The representative also said the pipeline would be buried about 4 to 10 feet deep. The draft Planning Commission minutes do not specify sampling locations, contaminants, testing frequency, reporting deadlines or a remediation protocol.
The project application says the alignment lies in the Denver Basin aquifer system and anticipates no impacts to groundwater levels, pressure, flow, recharge or quality. It says no water wells are within the identified impact area. If groundwater is encountered during trenching, dewatering requires authorization from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The engineering staff report says the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission can inspect the gathering lines and must be notified 10 days before construction. The application also describes aerial patrols, valve and crossing inspections and equipment maintenance.
Construction monitoring will cover stormwater, erosion control, air quality, wildlife and other resources. County floodplain, drainage, grading and stormwater permits add restoration and final as-built requirements, and the application says work may be halted and additional best-management practices added if problems are observed.
The records reviewed do not identify a project-specific bond amount, groundwater enforcement schedule, violation history or penalty structure. They establish state inspection authority and construction controls, but do not make the project’s long-term groundwater monitoring plan clear.
The records also differ on the pipeline configuration. The Planning Commission record describes a 6-inch connection and an optional line of up to 8 inches for fresh and produced water, while another staff report describes associated 6-inch oil and 10-inch natural-gas lines. The available documents do not establish whether the optional water line will be built with the initial project or added later.