Colorado Oil and Gas Rulemaking
Update: In March 2009, the Colorado General Assembly approved the new oil and gas regulatory protections set in motion by WRA. The rules were signed into law by Governor Ritter on Earth Day, in a ceremony attended by WRA Lands Program Director Mike Chiropolos. They became effective in April 2009.
In 2007, Colorado passed two significant new laws to ensure that future oil and gas development is balanced with common-sense protections for wildlife, the environment and public health. These laws were titled the Colorado Habitat Stewardship Act, which was largely drafted and negotiated by WRA, and the Oil and Gas Commission Reform Act. 
The new laws kicked off one of the most comprehensive rulemakings in State history over the course of 2008. WRA was in the thick of the rulemaking process, representing ten citizen and conservation groups. Despite being outnumbered by industry attorneys more than 10-1, the coalition of surface owners, local government, conservation and wildlife groups that supported the rules largely prevailed – and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) approved the new rules by an 8-0 vote in December, 2008.
The new protections were necessary because of an unprecedented explosion of drilling activity: from 2,920 new permits approved in 2004 to 7,974 new permits in 2008. More than 5,000 oil and gas leases now cover more than 5 million acres of land across Colorado. With each passing year setting new records for levels of drilling activity, the drilling boom began to invade entirely new mineral basins, resulting in conflicts with landowners, and major threats to wildlife habitat, air quality and drinking water.
A few highlights of the newly approved protections are provisions that:
- Encourage industry to work with other stakeholders to develop voluntary “Comprehensive Drilling Plans” for future operations, effectively applying the concept of subdivision plats and city planning to the oil and gas industry.
- For the first time, grant the surface owner the ability to challenge an agency decision to approve a drilling application over the landowner’s objections about the well location or operational details. This is a basic fairness measure: industry has always had the right to challenge the denial of a drilling permit. There is no reason to believe government would only err to the detriment of the oil and gas industry, but never the private property owner.
- 300 foot drilling setbacks from the State’s best blue ribbon trout streams.
- Require industry to disclose toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, when there is reason to believe “fracking” fluids might pose a threat to public health.
Colorado’s sweeping reforms are unprecedented today, but we expect other states to follow suit with common-sense measures that balance oil and gas development with protecting other resources. For now, WRA is proud to have helped make history.
After several decades of being dominated by industry, the state agency charged with regulating oil and gas development is now charged with taking account of impacts to public health, the environment and wildlife. Developing Colorado’s mineral estate is no longer the dominant use which trumps other private property interests or the larger public interest.
WRA Defends New Protections for Wildlife, the Environment and Public Health
In May 2009, The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) sued the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, challenging the agency’s approval of a sweeping package of reforms and protections for Colorado’s land, water, and residents in the gas patch. In August, WRA – joined by Earthjustice and National Wildlife Federation – intervened in the case to defend the hard-fought comprehensive reforms incorporated into the new Rules.
In November, Judge Herbert L. Stern III issued a broad ruling rejecting various claims and procedural maneuvers attempted by COGA to prolong and complicate this straight-forward case. The court denied both COGA’s attempt to amend its suit to introduce a vague litany of new allegations, and COGA’s effort to “discover” and seek to introduce a virtually limitless set of documents outside the agency record.
Now that court will set a schedule for briefing and argument, followed by a decision on whether the State followed the law in this comprehensive administrative rulemaking. WRA maintains that the procedures met and exceeded state law, and that the new rules properly balance future oil and gas development with common sense protections for wildlife, the environment and public health.
WRA is working to ensure that:
- Colorado's new oil and gas rules operate as intended to protect the citizens and environment without significant economic impacts to the oil and gas industry.
- The historic habitat protection laws passed in 2007 and the reforms passed by the COGCC remain on the books.
- The COGCC continues its current balance of citizen and industry interests.