Hickenlooper’s oil and gas task force weighs 35 proposals

DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper’s oil and natural-gas task force Tuesday considered sending almost three dozen proposals to the state Legislature that center on increasing local government control of industry operations.

Task force members debated their proposals at the Colorado Convention Center as a group of protestors waved signs outside the building. The task force narrowed the number of proposals to 35 from 56 ahead of the meeting, and were expected to decide on at least some of the recommendations by Tuesday night.

Hickenlooper established the 21-member task force in September to recommend ways to reduce land-use conflicts related to oil and gas facilities around homes, schools, businesses and recreation areas. The task force headed off ballot initiatives that would have increased distances between oil and gas wells and buildings and one that would have created an environmental bill of rights.

Whether to cede additional control of oil and gas development to local governments remained a central issue. Some elected officials from cities and counties want more authority over oil and gas development, while others, especially Weld County, want the state of Colorado to maintain control. The Hickenlooper Administration, meanwhile, has sought to preserve its authority over oil and gas development.

“This is the debate we should be having – the degree of local control,” said task force member Pat Quinn, chief financial officer for real estate firm Loja Group LLC and former Broomfield mayor.

A number of the proposals deal with property, health, noise and other matters, many of them in the context of local control.

Regarding land-use regulations, several proposals recommend more collaboration between local governments and the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. One proposal, developed by retired Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Kourlis, calls for a panel to hear disputes between local governments and oil companies on the locations of oil wells. Groups could appeal the panel’s decisions to area district courts.

Such a rule would shift authority over conflicts from the state of Colorado to the dispute resolution panel, providing additional transparency to the public, Kourlis said.

“It’s how people see the decision-making process as well as how it operates,” she said.

Another proposal, suggested by attorney Matt Sura, would authorize local governments to charge oil companies fees to fund inspections of oil and gas facilities within their boundaries. State law bars local governments from charging such fees.

“Almost all task force members have stated that they would like to see more oil and gas inspectors in the field,” the proposal reads.

Related to health impacts of oil and gas, one proposals calls for the state Legislature to convert five temporary full-time equivalent state employees to permanent status for the state’s air-quality monitoring activities. The proposal also supports establishing a health complaint and information line on oil and gas activities as well as a mobile air quality monitoring unit that could be dispatched to respond to complaints.

The proposal also recommends that the state health department study risks of oil and gas development to human health using the “latest and most accurate data.”

“The task force heard from many citizens who expressed concern and uncertainty about potential human health risks associated with exposure to emissions from oil and gas activities,” the proposal reads.

Another proposal seeks to improve the way companies disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The well-completion technique involves pumping a slurry of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to extract oil and natural gas from dense shale formations.

Other proposals call for counties to have authority to regulate noise from oil and gas operations and truck traffic on public streets, roads and highways.

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