A standing room crowd of activists converged on a meeting of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Monday, to oppose traditional property rights for the sake of children and public health.

The Denver Post reports the crowd, wearing surgical masks and wielding signs, berated oil and gas regulators because of extraction operations that will commence near several Front Range neighborhoods in Broomfield, Weld and Boulder counties.

“Barbara Binder, an Adams County resident whose neighborhood would be just over 1,000 feet from 49 wells proposed for a parcel of Broomfield open space just over the county line, said she and her neighbors had little input about the project belonging to Extraction Oil and Gas LLC,” the Post reports.

There’s a reason for that. Binder and her neighbors don’t own the valuable fossil fuels under their homes. They negotiated the prices of their homes with full knowledge they were buying the surface rights, and not control of the minerals below.

Most Colorado homebuyers sign a standard contract clearing up any confusion as to their control of oil, gas and other minerals under their parcels. The homeowner typically buys and controls the surface, but the treasures below belong to someone else.

Our country and state are built on laws that protect property rights. We cannot sign away ownership of sub-surface property, pay a price commensurate with that agreement, and expect to control the property we expressly did not buy.

By owning the surface of their properties, homeowners are protected from energy producers drilling holes in their lawns. They are not protected from producers operating on land they own or lease 1,000 feet away and 8,000 feet below.

Commission chairman John Benton demanded order several times throughout the meeting. Emotionally charged protesters routinely expressed concerns the oil and gas wells pose health hazards to nearby residents and students at schools.

Overwhelming scientific data refute claims oil and gas wells endanger the health of nearby residents or students.

The Colorado Department of Health and Environment assessed more than 10,000 air quality samples taken near oil and gas operations.

The agency used the samples to examine 62 substances of concern for people living or working within 500 feet of fossil fuel production wells.

The assessment found concentrations of toxins, surrounding oil and gas wells, are lower than standard limits set for short- and long-term exposure. Cancer risks near oil and gas wells are within the EPA’s “acceptable risk” range.

Those who think oil and gas production cannot coexist with dense residences and schools have not been to Los Angeles. The country’s second-largest city hosts more than 3,000 active oil and gas wells that are not subject to minimum setbacks. The wells operate peacefully next door to restaurants, homes, churches and schools.

A cluster of 19 oil wells have operated on the campus of California’s upscale Beverly Hills High School for most of the 21st century, generating revenue for the school. Nearly 600,000 Los Angeles residents live within 1,300 feet of an active well.

Mineral rights are property rights, no less sacred than a home and yard. If that were not the case, the United States would not have become a net exporter of oil, and would remain dependent on foreign oil alliances that cause wars and jeopardize our economic stability.

Politicians, judges, and energy regulators cannot be intimidated by mobs with signs, face masks and unfounded fears. They must defend the law, without regard for political pressure from those who want to control what they do not own.