The governor’s oil and gas task force Tuesday endorsed plans for more local input on large-scale drilling projects but stopped short of supporting proposals to give any more power to local governments.
The task force, created by Gov. John Hickenlooper to try to resolve land-use conflicts between communities and the oil and gas industry, will forward nine of 36 proposals to him in a majority report.
A proposal needed a two-thirds vote of the 21-member task force to pass. The measures that failed will be sent to Hickenlooper in a minority report.
READ: Managing the Boom, The Denver Post series on oil and gas development and local control in Colorado
The proposals that passed focused on enhancing the state permitting process and including local governments in siting decisions at a very early stage, even creating a mediation process if a community and operator disagree about the location of a project.
Seven proposals that would a have bolstered local governments’ ability to make their own rules on oil and gas development failed to get enough votes.
“I am disappointed,” said Gwen Lachelt, a La Plata County commissioner and task force co-chairwoman. “We really needed to do something for the people who are affected by these issues, and we really didn’t do that.”
Part of a compromise
The panel was created by Hickenlooper as part of a compromise to keep two initiatives off the November ballot. One strengthened local control over drilling, and the other required drill rigs be 2,000 feet from homes — four times the state requirement.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, who had backed the ballot measures, said in a statement Tuesday, ” Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry proved they weren’t interested in a compromise or solving the problem.“
Lachelt said that ballot initiatives might be revived.
Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director Mike King said the task force fulfilled its mission.
“Many of the recommendations are regulatory changes that we can make without waiting around for the legislature,” he said. “The task force addressed the issues the governor asked it to.”
Hickenlooper on Tuesday night commended the group for its work and called its recommendations “significant in both breadth and the level of consensus they achieved.”
Only three recommendations require legislative action. Two would require appropriations for more inspectors, and a third calls for support of Senate Bill 100, which would postpone expiration of a host of regulations, including air-emission controls on oil and gas operations.
“I think this will address the issue,” said Dan Kelly, a Noble Energy vice president and task-force member. “Early engagement with local government, more transparency — these are going to make a big difference.”
A proposal by former Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, a task-force member, that focused on large-scale operations — drilling pads of as many as 30 wells that leave large industrial tank operations — drew unanimous support.
Under Buescher’s proposal, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates drilling in the state, would craft new rules defining large-scale oil and gas operations and give the commission’s director the power to regulate their locations with the aim of limiting impacts.
The proposal would set up a system requiring an operator, prior to selecting a drill site, to meet with a representative of local government and the oil and gas commission.
If a local government and operator can’t agree on the location of a facility, the two parties could enter into mediation. If that fails, the operator would submit its application for the disputed site to the state, and the issue would be heard by the full oil and gas commission.
Another proposal that was adopted unanimously would have oil and gas companies provide information about their development plans to local governments to be used in their comprehensive development plants.
“It improves the local government’s role in the state process, but it is still a consultative role. It is a small step forward,” said Jeff Robbins, a task-force member and Durango-based attorney who represents local governments.
Robbins made four proposals aimed at “clarifying or enhancing” the power of local governments over oil and gas development. None mustered enough votes to be included in the majority report.
Sharp debate sparked
One Robbins proposal, which sparked sharp debate, would have amended state rules to acknowledge that local land-use regulations can be stricter than state oil and gas commission regulations.
This would simply clarify the existing ability of local governments to enact more-stringent requirements — as long as they don’t create operation conflicts with state rules, Robbins said.
The proposal drew strong support from community-oriented task-force members.
Jon Goldin-Dubois, president of Western Resource Advocates and a panel member, said “this is at the heart” of the group’s mandate.
Industry members remained opposed.
“If you take this to the end of the line, we see this as a local veto,” said Brad Holly, an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. vice president and task-force member.
After the vote, Goldin-Dubois said, “We fell short. When you have soccer moms and retirees becoming activists, you know something is wrong.”
The proposal garnered only 11 votes.
The other majority recommendations include:
• Improve the role of locations representatives to the oil and gas commission.
• Add 11 full-time staffers at the oil and gas commission to improve inspections and field operations.
• Bolster the inspection staff and equipment for monitoring oil and gas facility emissions and setting up a hotline for citizen health complaints at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
• Create a statewide oil and gas information clearinghouse.
• Study ways to ameliorate the impact of oil and gas truck traffic.
• Create a compliance-assistance program at the oil and gas commission to help operators comply with the state’s changing rules and ensure that inspectors are enforcing the rules consistently.
“The recommendations go well beyond the status quo,” said Lem Smith, an Encana Corp. executive who was sitting in for Peter Dea, an industry task-force member who could not attend.
“Local governments have more input upfront and more say about location,” Smith said. “For those who want to ban oil and gas, the recommendations will not satisfy them.”
