Colorado News

"Colorado Democrats have introduced a bill in the State Legislature that would require hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells to be set back at least 1,000 feet from any school or residence....But a bill like SB 88 blocking counties and municipalities from exercising any land-use control over drilling activity goes too far, says National Wildlife Federation attorney Michael Saul.

“That was basically the rule that the oil and gas commission passed in 2003 and then the Colorado Court of Appeals struck down in the Board of County Commissioners of La Plata County versus COGCC case,” Saul said. “It sounds to me like [SB 88 is] just an attempt to rewrite that decision.”

Saul says La Plata County in southwestern Colorado, where British Petroleum has been active for decades, has some of the most stringent local land-use regulations overseeing oil and gas drilling. There, the operator seems to have figured out how to work with county regulations without state preemption becoming an issue, he says.

“We’ve got 20 years of case law interpreting the existing state of the law on preemption and counties have learned pretty well how to follow that law,” Saul said. “Operators have been successful in navigating the permitting systems in those counties that have done so.

“Certainly there’s been a lot of successful drilling in La Plata County, which is arguably the most comprehensive [local] regulator.”

Read full text: Colorado Independent

As oil and gas drilling continues its march into more populated areas, there’s growing pressure on Colorado lawmakers to wade into a thorny battle escalating between the state and many local governments. Several bills that would give cities and counties more authority to regulate the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing are likely to be debated this session, even though it’s long been viewed as the state’s regulatory jurisdiction. KUNC’s Kirk Siegler reports on a series of tangled court rulings that got us to this point.

Read full text: KUNC

COMMERCE CITY —  Council members Monday evening debated the merits of a six-month moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the city, which drew sharp comments from some who are afraid oil and gas drilling in the community will lead to environmental disaster.

"I think we need a time out and this community needs to band together and lead the way on this," said resident Kristi Douglas, a critic of the process also known as fracking. "A lot of people are going to be wondering where Commerce City stands on this."

Read full text: Denver Post

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs is jumping on the oil and gas regulation bandwagon.

The city, like Routt County, soon will work on developing its own regulations specific to oil and gas development. The City Council unanimously and without discussion Tuesday approved giving city staff the go-ahead to begin drafting regulations regarding potential energy exploration within city limits.

City Attorney Tony Lettunich presented an update to City Council members about local oil and gas issues. The county has been working to draft revised conditions for all oil and gas permit applications. The work is being done because of the growing interest in the region and its Niobrara Shale layer. Quicksilver Resources reported recently that its well on Wolf Mountain in Routt County was producing 500 barrels of sweet crude oil per day.

“It’s hard to anticipate exactly what will happen, but the hope is we won’t be in the crosshairs of drilling,” Lettunich said Tuesday.

Read more: Steamboat Today

Thousands of hunters and anglers will convene in Denver later this week for the annual International Sportsmen’s Expo. The event comes as many sportsmen’s groups are fighting expanded oil and gas development on western public lands.

In 2008, Colorado sportsmen and outdoor groups forged unlikely alliances with environmentalists to flex their political muscle, backing mostly Democrats who promised to limit oil and gas drilling in long-prized hunting areas. 

Now with land managers looking to lease places like the remote North Park area, Bill Dvorak says there’s every indication sportsmen will be politically active this year too.

Click here to read the full story by KUNC

Colorado today adopted the nation's toughest rule requiring oil and gas drillers to disclose all the chemicals used in the fracking fluids they pump down wells.

"The level of detail required in this rule is much greater than other states require," said Mike Freeman, an attorney for the environmental law group Earthjustice.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission unanimously adopted the rule after last-minute negotiations among environmental groups, industry and state regulators.

Click here to read the full story on The Denver Post

Federal environmental officials have taken charge of a continuing toxic leak into Sand Creek and the South Platte River​ north of downtown Denver, trying to stop oily black goo from fouling northeastern Colorado's primary source of water.

Workers overnight dammed off a catchment area and banded it with absorbent material hoping slow the spread into the river. Later today, Environmental Protection Agency​ managers say, a trench will be dug in from the bank to catch the muck before it hits the water.

Meanwhile, the EPA has launched comprehensive water and soil sampling along Sand Creek and the South Platte. The first lab results from earlier tests are expected this afternoon, and EPA contractor said.

Click here to read the full story on the Denver Post

Until four years ago, I hadn’t spent more than an hour in North Park. The 8,000-foot-high valley stretching to the snow-capped peaks of the Park and Never Summer ranges and the Medicine Bow and Rabbit Ears mountains is stunning. The area in northern Colorado is also out of the way, about 150 miles northwest of Denver and practically in Wyoming.

But in 2007, I drove to North Park to overnight in Walden (population roughly 650) and woke up early the next day for a visit to a greater sage-grouse lek, or mating ground. The male birds puff out their white-ruffed throat sacs, flare their pointy tails and try to look manly for the females checking them out. Stumbling through the early-morning darkness to the bird blind, the other ecotourists and I got another rare treat when we looked up – a pitch-black sky studded with dazzling, bright stars.

Folks, we’re not in Denver anymore.

You throw in world-class fishing, about 500 moose, thousands of mule deer, elk and pronghorn, thousands of ducks, geese and other birds on the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge south of Walden, and it’s clear why some sportsmen call North Park the Serengeti of Colorado.

Will it also become the Bakken field of Colorado? Oil has been produced there for decades, but new technology and a few high-flowing wells are fueling excitement about tapping the Niobrara formation under parts of Colorado and Wyoming. New wells have been drilled in North Park and more applications are pending.

Click here to read the full story

By John Gale

The chorus has started again on how making it easier and quicker to approve energy development will spur the Western economy. Tapping the West's vast mineral resources would generate many jobs and much prosperity, if only government got rid of costly, burdensome regulations -- or so the song goes. It's an old, familiar tune that falls flat.

A few years ago, wildlife conservation organizations, led by the Colorado Wildlife Federation, helped write new lyrics. They joined with community groups and landowners in developing and promoting thoughtful oil and gas guidelines to safeguard the state's world-class big game herds, fishing areas, water and scenic vistas that are a multibillion-dollar, sustainable part of the economy. The Colorado legislature unanimously passed House Bill 1298 in 2007, requiring that impacts on wildlife, public health and the environment be considered when approving oil and gas drilling.

The concerns that propelled leasing and drilling reforms in Colorado and nationwide remain, despite the troubled economy. Western sportsmen and other outdoor recreationists recognize and support the need for fuel and the jobs and revenue it creates for the region. Reasonable regulations on the oil and gas industry are not impeding any of that.

One example is the Bureau of Land Management's recent announcement that protests of leases on public lands have dropped dramatically as federal officials address issues before a lease is issued. The result is fewer obstacles and less time and uncertainty for the industry.

And production has increased. The U.S. Interior Department​ reports that total natural gas production rose 5 percent from 2008 to 2010 and onshore oil production on public lands increased 5 percent from 2009 to 2010. The BLM processed more than 5,000 drilling permit applications on federal and tribal lands last year, according to the Interior Department, and has processed about 4,100 so far this year despite the lingering economic slump and low natural gas prices .

Roughly 41 million acres of public land are under oil and gas leases. Only 12 million acres are producing, according to federal figures.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reported that Colorado led its neighbors, including Wyoming, in new well starts in the first quarter this year.

Colorado approved 2,757 oil and gas drilling permits through August 8 despite continued low natural gas prices and a slumping economy.

The recession has bolstered calls for scrutinizing the cost of regulating business. By way of example, an industry refrain is that limiting the use of categorical exclusions -- streamlined environmental reviews -- is simply regulatory red tape that delays development and costs jobs. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, however, found that BLM's extensive use of categorical exclusions from 2006 to 2008 to approve almost 6,900 oil and gas activities often did not comply with either the law or BLM's guidance.

A state study has found that hunting, angling and wildlife-related recreation produce about $2.5 billion for Colorado's economy each year, building on a heritage that Westerners value and is the envy of the world.

State and federal leasing and drilling reforms were a balanced response aimed in part at protecting those values.

So, rather than simply mouthing the old singsong that pits the economy against the environment, let's demand some harmony -- and responsible energy development that avoids and minimizes negative impacts while safeguarding our wildlife, streams and other natural resources.

John Gale is co-chairman of the Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Co-signing this commentary were John Smeltzer, board chairman of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, and Bob Meulengracht of Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development.

Click here to read this article on the Denver Post