The oil and gas industry has long enjoyed a favorable regulatory climate in Colorado, to put it mildly. It’s time to bring broader public interests to the table when natural resource and environmental issues are decided.
Former Gov. Bill Owens once headed the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, and during his eight years as the state’s chief executive, Owens appointed members of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. They were always respectful – and sometimes obsequious – to the industry.
Gov. Bill Ritter wants to expand the commission’s membership from seven to nine, add representatives for landowners, environmentalists and public-health agencies to ensure that the agency balances energy production goals with overall public interest in “the protection of the environment, wildlife resources and public safety and welfare.”
The Denver Post encourages this change, which we believe will benefit the oil and gas industry in the long run by forestalling radical restrictions that might come by way of citizen initiatives.
The issue is pressing, because Colorado issued a record 5,904 oil and gas drilling permits in 2006, more than double the total in 2004. Inevitably, that rapid expansion has caused opposition to drilling in such environmentally sensitive areas as the Roan Plateau.
We hope an expanded commission would provide a forum for ongoing dialogues such as the cooperative effort that has already borne fruit in House Bill 1298. That bill directs the commission to administer the oil and gas conservation law to minimize adverse impacts to wildlife resources. It requires, “to the maximum extent practical, best management practices and other reasonable measures to conserve wildlife resources and … to ensure the proper reclamation of wildlife habitat during and following such operations.”
HB 1298, which is sponsored by Rep. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne and Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, was crafted after extensive discussions between industry representatives, environmental and wildlife groups and public officials. As a result, it is supported by the energy industry as well as environmental and wildlife groups.
HB 1298 is now in the House Appropriations Committee. We urge its passage through the full legislature as a forerunner of the kind of balanced and productive relationships we’d like to see become standard operating procedure on the Oil and Gas Commission.
