American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 44

Colorado Task Force Releases Report
DENVER-A task force empaneled by
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
to examine oil and gas issues has approved
nine recommendations, many of which
the Colorado Oil & Gas Association says
enhance the role of local governments
when it comes to energy development in
their communities.
The nine recommendations contained
in the Colorado Oil and Gas Task Force
Final Report, issued Feb. 27, were culled
from the final 36 measures considered.
Five of the nine were sent to the Colorado
Oil & Gas Conservation Commission,
two were sent to the Colorado Legislature
for consideration, one was sent to the
governor's energy office, and one was
sent to the state Department of Public
Health and Environment (CDPHE).
The task force was created last August
in a compromise agreement with supporters of two ballot initiatives aimed at
restricting oil and gas development. The
initiatives, along with two pro-industry
measures, were pulled from the ballot in
exchange for forming the task force
(AOGR, September 2014, pg. 183).
The task force met over five months
and heard testimony from dozens of state
and local officials, geologists and engineers, health and safety experts, environmental advocates, and the public. At
its conclusion, Hickenlooper expressed
gratitude for the group's effort, according
to published reports, and defended its
recommendations against criticism that
it was "a failure."
Seven of the nine recommendations
were approved unanimously, which the
governor said demonstrated the task force
did its job. "A lot of people said nothing
would come out of this," Hickenlooper
told a radio station. "They said we would
not make any progress. That turned out
not to be the case."
Hickenlooper reiterated comments he
had made when announcing the task force
about the consequences of banning hydraulic fracturing in Colorado. "If you
ban fracturing," he observed, "you put
the state in serious jeopardy. The state
could be held liable for the financial
penalties of taking the rights of mineral
owners, to say nothing of the financial
impact and lost jobs."
COGA Director of Policy and External
Affairs Doug Flanders says the task force
recommendations clearly demonstrate unwillingness by opposition groups to compromise. "COGA is pleased with the
work of the task force. It spent the time
to learn the issues and tackle tough prob-

44 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

lems. Unfortunately, the environmental
side wants an easy answer, which we
would have found already, after 150 years
of oil and gas development in Colorado,"
Flanders says. "They like to say they
only want more local government control,
but in the end, that is their way of banning
oil and gas."
Of the nine recommendations approved
by the task force, two were sent to the
Colorado Legislature. One seeks funding
for 12 additional staff positions at the
Oil & Gas Conservation Commission,
and the second seeks to prevent expiration
of the methane emissions regulations
adopted in February 2014 by the CDPHE.
Those regulations establish volatile organic
compound requirements for storage tanks
and address methane emissions from natural gas wells (see "Colorado's New
Emission Rules Most Comprehensive In
Country," AOGR, April 2014, pg. 197).
With the state legislature split between
a Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate, passage of

significant legislation this session, including any affecting the industry, is unlikely, suggests Flanders.

New Tools for Siting
The list of recommendations (see Table
1) includes one that acknowledges a shift
in development in Colorado over the past
half decade from natural gas drilling in
rural areas such as the Piceance Basin to
multiwell pad drilling for oil into the
Niobrara Shale in expanding suburban
areas along the Front Range, according
to Mike King, executive director of the
Department of Natural Resources. As
these interests collide, "conflicts are inevitable," King told an industry summit
in Denver.
Task force recommendation 17 directs
the COGCC to add definitions for "urban
mitigation areas" and "large scale oil and
gas facilities."
Recommendation 17 also directs the
commission to develop rules that "address
the authority and procedures to be used .

TABLE 1
Task Force on Oil & Gas Recommendations
Number

Vote

Sent to

17

Enhance local government participation during
permitting of "large-scale oil and gas facilities" in
"urban mitigation areas," which are to be defined in
COGCC rules. Provide COGCC with tools to locate or
mitigate intensity and scale of operations.

21-0

COGCC

20

Operator registration with local government designee
(LGD) and submission, on request, of development
plans for incorporating into local comprehensive
plans.

21-0

COGCC

25

Ensure adequate funding from COGCC for LGD and
local government liaison (LGL), and to educate local
governments on utilization.

18-3

COGCC

27

Fund 12 additional staff at COGCC for inspection,
permitting, and monitoring complaints.

21-0

General
Assembly

31b

Secure funding for five permanent staff at CDPHE to
monitor for emissions, and create a health compliance
line as well as related human health risk assessment
and a mobile air quality monitoring unit.

21-0

CDPHE

37

Develop best practice guidelines for reducing truck
traffic related to oil and gas activities.

21-0

COGCC &
CDOT

41

Create a statewide oil and gas information
clearinghouse to distribute accurate, unbiased
information to improve understanding of industry
activities and practices, and federal, state and local
regulations.

21-0

Governor's
Energy
Office

49

Approve SB15-100, the 2015 Rule Review Bill, to
prevent expiration of methane emissions rules
adopted in 2014.

20-1

General
Assembly

52b

Create a compliance assistance program
at COGCC to help operators understand and comply
with new operating rules and policies, and to assure
consistent enforcement of rules by COGCC staff.

21-0

COGCC



American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

Contents
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