DENVER—Energy executives, environmentalists, landowners and government officials have been battling for months over proposed new rules for Colorado’s oil and gas industry—and they won’t be released until Monday.
When the draft regulations are made public, they’re sure to touch off a new round of protests and counter-protests.
The proposals will implement new laws requiring that decisions about oil and gas development give additional weight to public health, wildlife and the environment.
Industry officials warn that will drive up costs and dampen companies’ interest in Colorado. Others dismiss that as fear-mongering and say the industry won’t walk away from the state’s vast natural gas reserves.
A debate over the preliminary proposals has been raging since January.
Hundreds of oil and gas workers and supporters rallied in four cities across the state this month, saying the new rules could cripple an industry that pumps billions of dollars into Colorado’s economy and employs tens of thousands of people.
“We cannot afford to kick the state’s economic leader out of the state,” Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, told the crowd at a March 20 rally on the Capitol steps in Denver.
Action 22, a coalition of governments, businesses, groups and residents in 22 southern Colorado counties, passed a resolution opposing any rules that “would add materially to the cost of oil and gas operations” without sound science to back them up.
Southern Colorado includes the Raton Basin, one of the focal points of Colorado’s natural gas boom.
La Plata County Commissioner Wally White called the notion that the industry will leave Colorado if regulations are strengthened a “fear-and-loathing tactic.”
“Some legislators are saying the industry is packing its bags and already heading to the state line,” White said. “This is a $23 billion-a-year industry. I don’t think the gas companies are going to walk away from that.”
Colorado issued a record 6,368 drilling permits last year, six times the 1999 number. Currently, 34,000 wells are active statewide. Tens of thousands of new gas wells are expected on federal land alone over the next 20 years.
White said La Plata County, which produces 40 percent of the state’s natural gas, heard similar arguments from the industry when it adopted oil and gas regulations in the 1990s. The rules included mandatory minimum distances between drilling rigs and homes and other protections for landowners.
La Plata County won its battle in the courts for the right to regulate the industry’s activities on the surface. The state issues drilling permits and governs what happens underground.
White said counties started drawing up their own regulations because of a regulatory void at the state level.
“During those years, in the ’90s, the state oil and gas commission was dominated by the industry,” White said.
A law approved last year revamped the commission by increasing the number of members to nine from seven, adding the state health and natural resources directors and decreasing the number of representatives who must be from the industry.
White said La Plata County and the industry have a good working relationship even though they have their differences. He said oil and gas production is important to the county; it accounts for 60 percent of the property tax revenue.
“People have been reaping the benefits,” White said. “We’ve put lots of money into capital improvements and have done a lot for community” thanks to the revenue.
But the county needs to look ahead to when natural gas production declines. He is concerned about the impacts on the landscape, which includes some of Colorado’s most rugged and scenic mountains.
“How do we maintain that beauty that draws people here?” he asked.
