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DENVER — Oil and gas reforms that passed the Colorado Senate Tuesday are good news for Montrose County, a local official said.
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The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, reduces the number of oil and gas industry representatives on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Congress.
Prior to the bill’s passage, the COGCC was composed of seven members, five with a background in the energy-extraction industry. The legislation expands the number of commissioners to nine and limits the number of industry representatives to three. Commission members will now include directors of the natural resources and health departments.
“That (changing COGCC’s makeup) is the majority of what this bill does,” Isgar said, explaining the legislation also included amendments to clarify rule promulgation for the commission. Those rules would likely be presented to the Legislature next session.
“Other interests are on the commission with the hope that the concerns we hear out there — in rural areas, primarily — that there will be a better process. We’re trying to find a balance,” Isgar said. “We don’t want to unnecessarily cause delay and expense where the concerns aren’t valid.”
Patterson said the commission needed to be responsible to state residents, not oil and gas producers. “The regulatory body that regulated the industry was controlled by people that had ties to the industry. It was kind of like the fox guarding the chicken coop.”
According to the Associated Press, House Bill 1341 was initially opposed by the Colorado Petroleum Association and Colorado Oil and Gas Association; however, following the compromise, they decided not to specifically oppose it.
The main reason for the change in stance was that lawmakers agreed to drop language that would have changed a provision in the law which promotes the extraction of oil and gas in the most efficient way possible, the AP reported.
The industry feared that change was too broad. According to the AP, Harris Sherman, the state’s natural resources chief, helped negotiate changes to the original proposal that led the industry to drop its opposition.
Sherman told the AP the language concerning extraction wasn’t necessary in order to allow the new commission to consider environmental and health impacts of drilling.
“What they were mainly opposed to was the redefinition of waste,” Patterson said. “That was a compromise that was reached.”
Isgar said the bill was not intended to destroy the energy industry. “This isn’t about making the industry go away. Not wanting production close to your home is not a valid concern as long as the industry operates in a responsible manner. You don’t want things to grind to a halt unnecessarily.”
Montrose County is rich with energy extraction opportunities — opportunities that have caused concern in the past on the part of residents who owned property in prime drilling areas, but not the mineral rights underground. There are permitted wells in eastern Montrose County, Patterson said, while the main extraction area is in the West End.
“What we’re hoping is the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will now be able to work more with the counties, and especially the citizens of the county, in the siting of wells,” Patterson said.
“I think it will be a good thing,” Isgar said. “The industry is of course concerned because they are losing control. Some of those concerns can be addressed, if we develop rules that try to find the proper balance.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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