Colorado House passes amended oil, gas bill

DENVER — A bill that would drastically shift the way the oil and gas industry is regulated in the state was approved Friday by Colorado lawmakers in the House of Representatives, but the measure was amended in an attempt to appease industry critics.

The bill, Senate Bill 181, will now go back to the Senate, where the newly added amendments will be considered.

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Majority Leader Stephen Fenberg, D-Boulder, seeks to shift the makeup and mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from a group tasked with fostering oil and gas development to a group focused on regulating the industry. The bill would also give local government more power to enforce land-use and zoning rules, as well as increased setback requirements. New limits on “forced pooling” and beefed up air-quality-monitoring requirements would also be included.

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One of the most significant amendments relates to the makeup of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the industry’s main governing body in the state. The amended bill will shrink the commission from seven appointed members to five, and seats on the commission would be full-time and paid rather than volunteer positions.

Another amendment would require 45 percent — down from 50 percent — of mineral rights owners in a forced pooling area to sign on before drilling can begin.

“A few of the amendments begin to address some of our concerns,” Colorado Oil and Gas Association spokesman Scott Prestidge said in a prepared statement. “The process has a way to go, and we’ll have to see what happens in the Senate on Monday.”