The Post editorial: Local issues, local meetings
It is sometimes said that there is a fine line between genius and madness. A similar observation can be made about well-intentioned programs when they come up sorely lacking in effectiveness.
A pair of Colorado agencies — which oversee oil and gas, and management of state parks and wildlife — are facing heat for holding hearings far from the communities that wish to weigh in. Regulators at the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission and Colorado Parks and Wildlife ought to rethink and revise a practice meant to create greater transparency and convenience for residents so that it actually accomplishes those laudable goals.
Residents and city officials in Broomfield wish to participate in COGCC hearings regarding spacing applications from Extraction Oil and Gas. But the commission has scheduled the mid-September hearings in Durango, which is roughly 350 miles away.
Holding the hearings in Durango isn’t necessarily a nefarious plot. The commission has for some time sought to bolster transparency and accountability by holding hearings around the state. The rationale is sound and praiseworthy. Instead of making the trip and thereby making residents from the far reaches of the state drive all the way to the Mile High City to attend hearings on matters important to their communities, the COGCC holds some hearings in diverse pockets of the state.
Such a policy is also not easy for commissioners and staff. Further, going on the road requires taxpayer investment; as such, that money and time should be spent responsibly.
Given those concerns, it would seem the schedule is too random for its own good, as those concerned about the matter in Broomfield have discovered. This week Broomfield’s city council agreed to ask the commission to move the hearings back to the Denver area.
Yes, activists opposed to oil and gas development can be difficult for the commission. Only last month we decried what became a failed effort to recall the Broomfield mayor pro tem not for misconduct, but for “failure to support oil and gas local control.”
And yes, activists often bedevil the commission with legal challenges and civil disobedience.
That’s no reason to even appear to be dodging hassle and complaint by holding oil and gas hearings that affect Broomfield in an entirely different part of the state.
Similarly, in Fort Collins, residents wish to attend Parks and Wildlife hearings about a mitigation plan for the Cache La Poudre River. It’s not hard to guess why they are disgruntled over the decision to hold the hearings in Trinidad — more than 260 miles away.
As Save the Poudre’s director, Gary Wockner, puts it: “We’ve been accused of being very loud, but even if we are screaming, I don’t think the commissioners will hear us in Trinidad. We request a hearing in Fort Collins.”
We get it that boisterous public meetings can make it tough for commissioners. The dynamic comes with the territory. But we are firm believers in public access, and the spirit of providing that access should dictate that meetings and hearings of great importance to a community be held in ways that community has a reasonable chance to take part. The members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are William Dean Singleton, chairman; Mac Tully, CEO and publisher; Chuck Plunkett, editor of the editorial pages; Megan Schrader, editorial writer; and Cohen Peart, opinion editor.