The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has voted 6-3 to deny a plan to delay parts of a proposed overhaul of the state’s drilling regulations.
“The commission decided that … limiting the scope and postponing portions of the rulemaking would not be in the public interest given the current energy boom,” David Neslin, the commissions’s acting director, said in a statement.
Colorado issued a record 6,368 drilling permits in 2007, according to commission records.
The new rules — the most extensive revision in more than a decade — seek to protect public health, drinking water and wildlife, as well as tighten operating requirements for things such as noise, odors and runoff.
The draft rules were released March 31 with a deadline of this August for adoption.
About 30 groups — including energy companies and trade groups— filed motions to limit the scope of this rulemaking to the new permitting requirements.
They called for taking new regulations on things such as, drinking water, wildlife protection and site operations in a second to a rulemaking process.
“The commission is trying to do too much in too little time,” Meg Collins, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Assocatiion, said in an interview before the vote.
Neslin said that if additional information is needed for a specific regulation the commission can delay action on that rule, while moving ahead with the others.
“We owe it to the legislature and the public to take action this summer,” Neslin said.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or MJaffe@denverpost.com
