AURORA, Colo. — Tuesday evening, dozens of environmental activists, some of whom were also Aurora residents, protested against fracking outside Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management office. They said this was their final, in-person action before the commission considers moving forward on the State Sunlight/Long Oil & Gas Development Plan this week.

“We’re not being emotional about it or just being against it for the sake of being against it,” resident Colleen Cussick said.

Cussick said she moved to Aurora in March 2024 and quickly joined activist groups like ‘Save the Aurora Reservoir’ and ‘Indivisible Aurora,’ when she learned natural resources were potentially at risk.

Her passions brought her to Denver from Aurora on Tuesday afternoon with a sign that read, “ECMC! Stop Killing Our Children!”

“Within eight miles of any type of explosion, toxin release, the communities are going to have major issues, especially children,” Cussick said.

In May 2025, CU Anschutz researchers published a study, finding that Colorado children living within eight miles of oil and gas well sites are at a higher risk of leukemia.

The study showed that children between 2 and 9 years old between 2002 and 2019 were 1.4 to 2.6 times more likely to live near an oil and gas well site than children without a cancer diagnosis.

“We understand the science behind it and it alarms us. We care for our children, neighbors, we care for our environment and the species who live in the environment and the ECMC by law should be applying those standards to their decisions,” Cussick said.

The Department of Natural Resources said the commission will be taking public comment into consideration when it makes its decision. 

According to the state, the commission has received over 1,200 public comments related to the Lowry Oil and Gas Comprehensive Area Plan and the Sunlight/Long location. That includes 70 oral comments made at the Sunlight/Long public comment hearing that occurred in September, at which 430 folks attended.

The commission is scheduled to begin taking public comment on Wednesday, around 11 a.m., before going into discussions about possibly moving the plan forward.

“Even if we don’t have a great percentage chance of something happening in our favor, we’re not going to stop,” Cussick said.