Colorado adopts new rules for oil and gas development, focusing on cumulative impacts New rules for Colorado oil and gas development could put industry at risk
“ the Commission continues to make it increasingly difficult for smaller oil and gas companies in Colorado to operate by, once again, adding endless obstacles in the permitting process.”
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Colorado adopts new rules for oil and gas development, focusing on cumulative impacts
New rules for Colorado oil and gas development could put industry at risk
Oct 15, 2024 Updated 19 hrs ago
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FILE PHOTO: A prairie dog scampers in a field located near the Pratt oil and gas wells in Weld County near Erie. The well facility is operated by Crestone Peak Resources.
Andy Colwell/Special to Colorado Politics
FILE PHOTO: Oil and gas well heads are pictured at Great Western Oil & Gas Co.'s Sharp oil and gas well pad south of Brighton, on June 27, 2019, in Adams County.
Andy Colwell for Colorado Politics
The Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission approved a suite of new rules for oil and gas development in Colorado Tuesday.
The rules require operators to meet strict new standards regarding cumulative impacts of past, present and future oil and gas development to be permitted to develop new mineral resources, beginning Dec. 15, 2024.
New rules define cumulative impacts as the effects on public health and the environment, including the impacts to air quality, water quality, climate, noise, odor, wildlife, and biological resources caused by the incremental impacts that a proposed new or amended operation … would have when added to the impacts from other past, present, and future development, according to the commission.
“This action by the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) builds on our country’s strongest oil and gas standards. It puts into place even better protections for Colorado families and sets a new and higher standard for evaluating and addressing the cumulative impacts of oil and gas operations, especially for people living in the communities most impacted by this sector,” said Gov. Jared Polis in a news release.
Industry representatives complain that these new regulations are intended to destroy the oil and gas industry in Colorado.
“These prescriptive regulations and mandates are pushed by a group of extreme environmental activists with the sole intention of banning the oil and natural gas industry in Colorado, rather than coming to the table to find solutions that will actually benefit the most vulnerable among us and bring down energy costs,” said Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association in a statement to The Denver Gazette.
Operators will be required to make a cumulative impacts analysis with each new permit application and submit it to the state, where it will be reviewed by state agencies including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the ECMC
“Colorado’s oil and natural gas operators have spent the past half-decade in constant rulemakings as state lawmakers have repeatedly moved the goalposts on our regulatory regime,” said Kait Schwartz, director of the American Petroleum Institute – Colorado, in a statement. “As we continue to meet and exceed the state’s ambitious emissions reduction goals while providing Coloradans with the safe and reliable energy they depend on, we strongly suggest the state adopts a more substantive and efficient approach to policymaking.”
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Schwartz said that the oil and gas industry has been reducing emissions, producing responsibly, and working to keep communities safe long before these new rules were introduced.
“Despite these achievements, this rulemaking process has ignored the significant progress we’ve made and underscored a lack of genuine stakeholder engagement,” Schwartz said.
The rules have a heavy focus on disproportionately impacted communities, including increasing buffers around them to 5,280 feet, while the new normal buffer is 2,640 from residential structures and schools.
“We appreciate the important work the Commission has undertaken in the Cumulative Impacts rulemaking and value our shared commitment for prioritizing the health, safety, and welfare of all Coloradans,” said Haley, “However, while the new rule is a notable improvement from the original draft, the Commission continues to make it increasingly difficult for smaller oil and gas companies in Colorado to operate by, once again, adding endless obstacles in the permitting process.”
ECMC Chair Jeff Robbins said the new rules are “the most protective” standards in Colorado history.
“We’ve adopted strong protections to ensure cumulative impacts from oil and gas operations are addressed as part of our protective regulatory protocol,” Robbins said in the release.
The five years API mentioned was in reference to the sweeping regulation reforms passed by the Colorado Legislature in 2019 SB 19-181. That law increased setback requirements to at least 2,000 feet from any structure. That law also changed the commission’s mission from a body that advocated for oil and gas development to one that regulates “the responsible development and production” of oil and gas in a manner that protects public health, safety and welfare, wildlife and the environment.
The time it takes permits to get approved under the new regulations can be a year or longer.
MORE INFORMATION
Following Colorado regulators' OK, oil and gas company turns attention to individual well sites
The Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) has approved the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan (CAP) proposed by oil and gas company Civitas, which includes 32,000 acres of proposed subsurface mineral development, and the company is now seeking approval for individual well pad sites. Commissioners are committed to closely reviewing the actual proposed locations at the OGDP stage to ensure potential impacts on human health and the environment are minimized.
Colorado a Democrat enclave has been harassing energy companies forever.
Colorado ought to join California and leave the USA 🇺🇸
They’ve gone communist like OR WA …. And CA
Too bad.
Guess Oil wins in the end … blue turns purple then red.