Energy, Utilities & Water  September 25, 2014

Hick: Task force has ‘difficult’ road ahead

DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper acknowledged Thursday the difficult but not insurmountable assignment faced by a task force he appointed to recommend changes to the state’s oil and natural-gas regulations.

“I know there’s a lot of difficult negotiations ahead of you all,” Hickenlooper said. “I think you guys can do it and really find a way to navigate through this.”

He also urged the task force to “respect both sides of this issue” and “recognize the rights of private property but also the rights of quiet enjoyment.”

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Hickenlooper made the remarks during the first meeting in Denver of a 19-member oil and gas task force whose members he appointed. The governor, as well as commission members, spoke of their hopes for the commission Thursday morning during the meeting, scheduled to last throughout the afternoon. Additional meetings will take place in Greeley, Rifle, Durango and again in Denver from October through February.

Hickenlooper has high hopes for the task force, holding it up as a way to address divisive issues while making the state an example of collaboration for other states. Controversy over hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique that involves pumping fluid laced with chemicals deep underground to extract oil and gas, has raged throughout the state and nationwide.

“What you’re grappling with is not just here, it’s in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas and Wyoming: It really is across the country,” he said.

Hickenlooper announced the task force as part of a deal to stop ballot initiatives backed by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colorado, and opposed by the oil and gas industry, which also had introduced its own initiatives. The task force, chaired by La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt and XTO Energy Inc. President Randy Cleveland, includes oil and gas industry representatives, local government officials, attorneys, environmentalists and activists.

Hickenlooper has asked the task force to craft recommendations to address oil and land-use conflicts and the role of state government in deciding where oil and gas facilities can be located.

The Center for Western Priorities, a Denver-based nonpartisan group that focuses on Western land issues, said Thursday it hoped that the task force would address buffers between oil and gas wells, local governments’ role in regulating the industry, improvements to the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s website and closing fracking chemical disclosure loopholes.

Hickenlooper said task force members are “not going to be able to focus on every issue.”

“The issues around oil and gas drilling are complex, and have a long history: (Task force members) are going to have to be fair and productive and really focused,” he said.

 

DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper acknowledged Thursday the difficult but not insurmountable assignment faced by a task force he appointed to recommend changes to the state’s oil and natural-gas regulations.

“I know there’s a lot of difficult negotiations ahead of you all,” Hickenlooper said. “I think you guys can do it and really find a way to navigate through this.”

He also urged the task force to “respect both sides of this issue” and “recognize the rights of private property but also the rights of quiet enjoyment.”

Hickenlooper made the remarks during the first meeting in Denver of a 19-member oil and gas…

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