BRIGHTON — After three years of negotiations, the Brighton City Council on Tuesday night unanimously adopted new rules and safety policies for oil and gas development sites in the city.
Brighton’s old land use and development code and did not meet state requirements for hydraulic fracturing sites.
Since 2012, city staff worked with oil and gas industry representatives that would comply with standards set by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and also meet the city’s higher standards for health and safety.
“Over (discussions had during) the last month, I believe we have achieved that balance,” said Matt Sura, special counsel to Brighton and a member of .
Representatives from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association endorsed the code change after the city withdrew some of its previous suggestions for pre-application procedures.
Sarah Landry, director of operations and programs for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association said that the final ordnance is a result of extensive research and significant effort from both sides.
“There will always be tiny tweaks to the rules, however all substantial changes have been made to allow for responsible operations within the city,” she said.
Some of the extra protection measures not in the code are contained in an optional memorandum of understanding. Well operators applying for a drilling permit can volunteer to enter into that agreement. In it, the city’s drilling regulations are more stringent — like increased setbacks from all buildings from the code’s 500 feet to 1,000 feet.
The benefit to operators of choosing the more stringent memorandum is that the MOU application process could be done in 38 days, while the standard conditional use application process, which includes a public hearing, and take up to 120 days.
The adopted regulations are on the city’s website.
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
Updated March 18, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. This article has been revised. Originally, the additional requirements of a memorandum of understanding were not made clear.
