DENVER—Gov. Bill Ritter and energy companies are announcing agreements to minimize harm to wildlife from oil and gas drilling in western Colorado.
Ritter and industry leaders scheduled an announcement Tuesday on deals covering hundreds of square miles of wildlife habitat in the Piceance (PEE’-ance) Basin, among the most active natural gas fields in Colorado.
New oil and gas rules that took effect last year encouraged development of plans to protect wildlife in exchange for more streamlined reviews of drilling plans.
Suzanne O’Neill of the Colorado Wildlife Federation says the deals being announced show that companies are willing to comply with reasonable rules.
The rules implemented laws requiring more consideration of environmental and health issues when approving energy development.
