COGCC backs 2,000-foot setback in rulemaking hearings

DENVER — A majority of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s five members backed a rule to require any new oil and gas development to sit more than 2,000 feet from homes and schools.

In a rulemaking hearing Wednesday, four of the five board members voted to direct the commission’s professional staff to draft the rules, along with potential ways for drillers to get variances to operate closer to human-occupied buildings.

Bill Gonzalez, a 10-year veteran of the industry before joining the COGCC, was the lone vote in opposition.

The current state-mandated setbacks are 500 feet, with some jurisdictions requiring more space from settled areas. However, those setbacks and several other core policies to how the state regulates oil and gas operations are under revision as the COGCC implements the mandates enacted under Senate Bill 181.

The hearings are now the main battleground between pro and anti-energy production groups in the state after the largest players on each side agreed to withdraw ballot measures proposed for this year’s elections and hold off on introducing new measures until 2022.

In a statement, API Colorado executive director Lynn Granger said the COGCC ignored ways to make oil operations safer in the state in favor of what she calls an unnecessarily punitive measure.

“The decision to increase the statewide setback to 2,000 feet, even with the potential for a variance process, is unwarranted and is clearly a political decision rather than a sound policy decision,” she said.

The proposals won’t take effect unless approved in a final vote in the coming weeks once the commissioners have completed their review.

State voters rejected a ballot initiative to place setbacks at 2,500 feet in the 2018 elections

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