Boulder County CommissionerElise Jonesis no stranger to conflict with the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission , the state display panel that regulates the fossil fuel manufacture . As an environmentalist , and voice of a county that has actively tried to keep out fracking , she said she ’s been “ fussy , even angry ” when cope with the panel .
At a COGCC group meeting last month , however , she told the commissioners that , for the first time , she was “ affirmative . ” The rationality ? Asweeping oil color and flatulence reform billthat was then working its way through the legislature , and is now wait for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ’ signature . He is expected to sign it any day now .
The bill would limit risky air emission , require company to intimately seal up their wellspring after drill , and give local authorities more restraint over how the industry acts in their towns . But perhaps its most impactful change is a seemingly benignant , wonky terminology modification to the COGCC missionary station statement . Rather than being told to “ surrogate ” developing of natural resources , the body would instead have to “ regulate ” such development . The original mission say yield had to be “ coherent with the protection of public health , safety and welfare ; ” now regulation must “ protect ” health and safety .
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Advocates like Jones think that one new condemnation could upend how Colorado deal with its fracking boom , by put hoi polloi over production for the first metre . And doing so might provide a fashion model for other states .
In an email to Earther , Jones noted thatCOGCChas a chronicle of rubber - stamping drilling Trachinotus falcatus and “ believ[ed ] it was their role to ease crude and gas pedal drilling . ”
“ Now they are directed to prioritise health and safety gadget , which will empower them to comfortably size up the proposals that come before them — include considering thing like cumulative impacts and requiring alternate site analyses — and hold the industry accountable for fulfil in high spirits criterion for safeguard Coloradans ’ health and rubber , ” she added .
The COGCC ’s responsibility has been at the center of Colorado ’s fracking wars , pitting communities along the state ’s Front Range against a major taxation equipment driver . The advent of hydraulic fracturing in the former 2000s helped the industry reach antecedently - untapped pockets of oil and petrol , and ship’s company installed trucking rig within cry distance of home base , school and playgrounds . Colorado now host more than 56,000 alive oil and gas well and is in the top 10 states for bothnatural gasandoilproduction .
But as the industry expand , so did concerns about the impact on aviation tone , H2O and the citizens who were dwell nearby . Amid citizen opposition , metropolis like Longmont and Boulder passed fracking banning . However , those werestruck downby the state Supreme Court in 2016 for conflicting with state police force . Alawsuitbrought by six youth activist , led by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez in 2013 , also require for a break on all raw fracking until it could be turn up dependable . After a lengthy court combat , the United States Department of State Supreme Court againrebuffed the activists , saying that the COGCC ’s mission as written did not require them to qualify newfangled permits on wellness and refuge .
Now the newfangled peak — the result of November elections that embroil Democrats to statehouse majorities — attain that fundamental change that conservationist have been looking for .
“ It excogitate the changing times and priorities , ” Bruce Baizel , music director of the energy programme for Earthworks , told Earther . “ If you look at most country , vegetable oil and gas product is the precedence . Only lately has health been a consideration , and climate not at all . ”
States likeTexas , New MexicoandOklahomaprimarily tax their oil and accelerator pedal display board with origin , not regulation ( North Dakota ’s Oil and Gas Division , for example , says its deputation is “ to encourage and upgrade the development , production , and utilization of rock oil and gas , ” with no mention of wellness ) . Some blue states , likeCaliforniado make wellness and refuge a antecedency .
Another poser comes from Pennsylvania , which in 1971 passed an Environmental Rights Amendment stating that “ people have a rightfield to strip atmosphere , pure water , and to the preservation of the natural , scenic , historic and esthetical value of the environment . ” That ’s beenused by environmentaliststo challenge oil color and gas leases .
What the bill ’s fresh linguistic process means for Colorado remains to be seen . The province will have to elapse new rules to enact the lawmaking and evaluate its existing regulation against its young responsibilities . As new permission roll in , experts expect a flurry of causa that will refine what the State Department is looking for . In a statement to Earther , Colorado Oil and Gas Association president Dan Haley say “ impacts of this legislation are being feel instantly from a permitting standpoint , and a potpourri of other wallop are too far off on the horizon to make out what they will be .
“ What we do know is that Colorado ’s fossil oil and instinctive flatulence industry value public wellness , safety gadget and the surround and our record supports that , ” Haley added .
Other states will be watch what pass off next . With its moderate political science , Colorado has been seen as a bellwether for other oil and gas province , and many are exploring their own fracking reforms . New Mexico regulator Michelle Lujan Grisham ( D ) has talked up mood - focused rules , and popular legislators there floated a four - year fracking moratorium ( it failed , but somesmaller rule changesfor the industry did pass ) .
Even Wyoming legislators have talk over reform , with state Sen. Jim Anderson telling theCasper Star - Tribunethat it is “ urgent ” to update rules to accommodate new engineering .
Whether those state follow Colorado ’s lead and put wellness and safe first remains to be seen , and likely calculate on what impacts Colorado sees . Smaller aspects of the measure , like round - the - clock pollution monitoring , are probable to be nibble up elsewhere . spoken language that allows local regime to pass more stringent rules could also become a poser , as communities in state likeTexasdeal with their own fracking wars .
Kevin Lynch , who leads the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver ’s Sturm College of Law and has helped lawsuits against the industry , told Earther that such a wholesale bill will result in “ common - signified regulations that other states will need . ” But ultimately , he suppose , it ’s the simple mission variety that will redefine how the state responds to citizens fight down the industry .
“ This is going to commute the state ’s rulemaking , and how the courts look at these emergence and permitting , ” Lynch said . “ It ’s going to become a lot heavy for the state to say ‘ no . ’ ”
Jason Plautz is a free-lance environment and energy newsman based in Denver , Colorado .
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