Larimer County commissioners extend O&G moratorium for five months

FORT COLLINS — The Larimer County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an extension of the county’s temporary ban on new applications for oil and gas operations for the next five months.

The vote taken during the commissioners’ Tuesday afternoon meeting sets the moratorium on new drilling to expire on Sept. 15, while a related halt to new 1041 land-use applications was extended through Dec. 15.

“1041” refers to a portion of Senate Bill 181, the sweeping energy production reforms that were passed into law in the summer of 2019. Under the law, local governments can add stricter regulations on oil and gas operations than the statewide level or implement their own reviews on drilling applications.

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The commissioners first voted to implement the moratorium in mid-March so it could consider changing local rules to conform with a new set of regulations instituted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission that took effect in January of this year.

The most-prominent new rule from that set of regulations is a 2,000-foot setback between any new well and a school, home or sensitive wildlife habitat, which energy industry proponents blasted as overly restrictive.

Commissioner Kristin Stephens said the group has no intention of continuing to extend the moratorium indefinitely and believes that the moratorium will give the county a chance to set definitive rules on what can and can’t be done by the industry.

“There are a couple of reasons why we’re looking at these, but politics is not part of a part of that,” she said. “It’s really about listening to folks in our community.”

In a statement, American Petroleum Institute Colorado executive director Lynn Granger argued that there’s no basis for a moratorium of any length to be implemented.

“The successful development and implementation of complex natural gas and oil regulations requires good faith, both from regulators and stakeholders, and a moratorium is a dramatic step away from that approach,” she said.