Broomfield asks COGCC for more local control

Broomfield City Council approved signing a letter addressed to Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in the early hours of Wednesday morning — at the end of a marathon council meeting that began Tuesday evening — and one that saw approval of a new operating agreement with Extraction Oil and Gas, Inc.

Councilwoman Sharon Tessier and Mayor Randy Ahrens worked with regional leaders from Boulder and Adams counties, as well as Westminster and Lafayette, to prepare the letter which focuses on rule-making regarding oil and gas development.

Drafts of the letter were sent to Erie, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Weld County, Thornton, Fort Collins, Berthoud, Loveland, Brighton, Dacono, Firestone, and Greeley.

Tessier said she and others have been working the letter for at least 10 months. Other jurisdictions already have signed it — Longmont’s council voted to sign the letter on Oct. 10..

The letter urges state officials to work with local governments in providing better state and local regulatory safeguards against the potential health and safety hazards of oil and gas operations.

Broomfield resident Vince Miller, who was at the meeting at 2 a.m. when the item came up, wondered aloud what sort of “bizarro double world” he was living in.

“There were a lot of citizens here earlier talking to you and I don’t think you listened to them,” Miller said, referring to citizens who spoke against the memorandum of understanding with Extraction.

The letter, he says, reflects that residents are scared and concerned, especially in light of recent explosions and deaths in Firestone and Mead. “You had a chance to do something and you didn’t,” he told them. “Why bother?”