{"id":2447873,"date":"2019-08-22T14:06:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T20:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=311635"},"modified":"2019-08-22T14:06:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T20:06:11","slug":"public-comes-in-droves-to-comment-on-oil-and-gas-rules-at-glenwood-springs-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/public-comes-in-droves-to-comment-on-oil-and-gas-rules-at-glenwood-springs-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Public comes in droves to comment on oil and gas rules at Glenwood Springs meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
URSA representative Matt Honeycutt speaks during the open public comment on SB 19-181 in front of the COGCC at the Hotel Colorado on Wednesday afternoon.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Western Slope is divided on oil and gas.<\/p>\n

That is one takeaway from Wednesday\u2019s Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meeting as commissioners and the public alike gave comment on proposed rules implementing Senate Bill 181.<\/p>\n

SB 181 mandates overhaul of the COGCC\u2019s approach to approving oil and gas development across the state.<\/p>\n

More than 100 people attended the meeting held at Hotel Colorado, with many commenting on how the rules could affect their neighborhoods or livelihoods. The rule changes are meant to redirect COGCC\u2019s mission from \u201cfostering\u201d to \u201cregulating\u201d oil and gas development.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany times you\u2019ll see that the burden of proof is favorable to the operator,\u201d COGCC Director Jeff Robbins said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a neutral regulatory framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some county commissioners on the Western Slope wonder why rules implementing SB 181, which touts the importance of local control, don\u2019t seem to take into account the importance of oil and gas development to rural counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cRio Blanco is different from other counties,\u201d Rio Blanco County Commissioner Jeff Ruger told the COGCC during the meeting at Hotel Colorado said. \u201cIndustry is our main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garfield County Commissioner John Martin highlighted the work at the county level to maintain high air quality and protect wildlife, which was done without a state mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have better air now with 11,000 active wells than we did in 2008 with 6,000 wells,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to ask yourselves, \u2018Why?\u2019 It\u2019s because of the involvement of the county, the industry and our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged the COGCC to account for the differences between the Front Range, where oil and gas operations are more likely to border dense urban areas, and the Western Slope, which is generally less populated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that this commission will not seek a single way of doing business, a one size-fits-all, in the implementing of this legislation,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Dozens of residents from Parachute to Paonia applauded the stricter permitting process and commented on the impacts and feared impacts of natural gas development.<\/p>\n

Concerns ranged from the nuisance and health effects of living near drill pads to the potential for water and soil contamination, and the ever-present alarm that natural gas is a fossil fuel contributing to climate change.<\/p>\n

William Michael Smith of Silt said he moved to Colorado years ago after working in dangerous oil refineries in the Midwest. When he moved south of Silt, he lived near a conservancy of 240 acres, thinking the state would preserve it.<\/p>\n

When a drilling operation moved in later, \u201cthey took that conservancy, and made it into an industrial hell,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

A number of community advocacy groups also spoke in favor of the stricter statewide regulations of oil and gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur organization wouldn\u2019t exist if everything was just fine out here,\u201d said Emily Hornback, of the Western Colorado Alliance. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked with communities like Battlement Mesa, where entire neighborhoods are dealing with urban drilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those Battlement Mesa residents is Betsy Leonard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat used to be our community has been destroyed forever by the gas industry,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cThese new rules may not make a great difference to us, but they may save other communities from our fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

COGCC chairman Howard Boigon said it is important the newer COGCC commissioners understand the history of Battlement Mesa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an Exxon company town, that wasn\u2019t necessarily meant to become a freestanding, locally governed community,\u201d Boigon said. \u201cObviously, circumstances have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added it would be good to go over that history in order to answer the question about why Battlement Mesa\u2019s local elected government wasn\u2019t involved in this process.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Martin pushed back on the idea that Battlement lacked representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarfield County represents Battlement Mesa,\u201d Martin said, adding there are 14 homeowners associations in that neighborhood within unincorporated Garfield County, and a variety of other groups that the commissioners listen to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do represent them. We take them very seriously,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe have a lot of different voices out of Battlement Mesa. We try to balance that, and each and every one are listened to and appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Martin, oil and gas industry representatives on the Western Slope urged the COGCC to take into account their good track records in Garfield County, and the differences between the Front Range and the Piceance Basin.<\/p>\n

Those with jobs in the oil industry defended their commitment to safety, and urged the commission to take into account the economic importance of natural gas extraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important that folks in this room and in this county understand that we do the absolute best to operate day to day safely, and put environment first,\u201d Brock Hayes, water foreman for Caerus Piceance LLC said.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s meeting was just one part of a long public comment process about the proposed regulatory changes. The COGCC will open an online portal for public comments in the coming days, Robbins said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

URSA representative Matt Honeycutt speaks during the open public comment on SB 19-181 in front of the COGCC at the Hotel Colorado on Wednesday afternoon.Chelsea Self\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent The Western Slope is divided on oil and gas. That is one takeaway from Wednesday\u2019s Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meeting as commissioners and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 13:35:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}