Drilling questions. Oil, gas council hears from critics.
COGCC tackles implementation of drilling rules
It’s climate action week all over the world. That includes at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meeting, where youths who participated in a march a few days ago urged state regulators to halt new drilling until new rules are finished.
“I’m tired of hearing about new wells going up around Colorado under a progressive and supposedly climate-championing administration,” Sophia Chivers, a high school senior from Niwot, said Wednesday outside the COGCC meeting at a recreation center in Thornton.
Nick Tuta, a 24-year-old activist who helped organize the recent march in Denver, said incremental moves to address climate change aren’t enough.
“Each new fracking permit issued is an act of climate (change) denial,” Tuta said.
Inside, the COGCC members and staff continued to tackle the task of upending the agency’s mission as directed by Senate Bill 19-181, which was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in April. The session included updates from the staff on the rules under consideration as well as comments from the public on regulation of underground oil and gas lines, siting of wells and the COGCC’s new focus.
“I think some folks around the state are not quite understanding that Senate Bill 181 was a real paradigm shift when it comes to oil and gas in the state of Colorado,” Sen. Mike Foote, DLafayette, one of the bill’s cosponsors, told the panel. “They don’t recognize the bill for what it has done or what it is supposed to do.”
Foote said some local officials and people in the oil and gas industry see the bill as just more regulations they have to follow.
“Prior to Senate Bill 181, for the most part, it seemed like the question was not whether the operators were going to be allowed to drill but when and where and under what circumstances,” Foote added.
But the new law flipped that to whether a company should be allowed to drill, Foote said. “First and foremost the question should be is this operation that’s proposed consistent with public health and safety. And if it’s not, then the answer should be no.”
As in past public meetings, several speakers contended that the COGCC’s process and decisions are undermining the change envisioned by the law’s sponsors. They repeated previous calls for a halt to any new permits until the COGCC and the state Air Quality Control Commission approve new regulations to implement the law.
Anne Lee Foster, spokeswoman for Colorado Rising, said the state is on a swift pace to approve new permits “with none of the protective rule-making in place, no evaluations for climate, cumulative impacts.”
However, Lynn Granger, executive director of the Colorado Petroleum Council, said the state’s oil and gas regulations are already among the strongest in the country. Colorado passed the first rules on monitoring drilling’s effects on groundwater, reduction of methane emissions and disclosure of what’s in fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, she said.
Since May, the COGCC has approved 650 drilling permits. COGCC director Jeff Robbins can hold up or deny permits based on a set of criteria. The intention is to ensure that regulators follow the protections outlined in SB181 while the new regulations are being written.
The COGCC called a temporary halt to new permits while
the criteria were written. The 16 conditions that can hold up a proposed permit include if a well site is within 1,500 feet of occupied buildings; in a city or town; in a floodplain; in a drinking-water supply area; within 2,000 feet of a school property line; or in an area where government officials have requested additional consultation.
Robbins disputed comments from critics that the state has returned to preSB181 levels on permits. The number of permits approved for the location of new well sites dipped to five in May and has been mostly in the teens or low 20s since then. Before the law was passed, the numbers averaged about 40 each month, Robbins said.
“I informed operators I felt like we could get to the high 20s (per month) as something to shoot for. That’s not the same business as usual,” Robbins said. “I’m trying to do what I believe the legislature told me to do, which is do not put a ban or moratorium on all new oil and gas development and don’t give oil and gas development a free ride and a pass from (SB) 181.”
The new law clarifies that cities and counties can adopt their own regulations and some have called a timeout on new permits while they get those in place.
The COGCC expects to release its new draft rules on flow lines soon. The underground lines connect wells to tanks and other equipment.
The agency has an online portal for the public to submit comments on proposed rules. Robbins has said the staff will review all comments submitted and take them into consideration while developing proposals.
To learn more about the rulemaking schedule and comment on the online portals, visit the COGCC website: www.colorado.gov/ cogcc.