Colorado oil and gas regulators on 15 October passed sweeping rules to deal with the cumulative effects of drilling and hailed it as “a big step forward,” but legislators, environmentalists, and community groups criticized the regulations for failing to protect vulnerable communities.
After a year of hearings and drafts, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) adopted about 60 pages of rules to assess and mitigate the effects of oil and gas drilling projects—an exercise the commission was mandated to do by the legislature.
“This has been a herculean effort,” ECMC Chairman Jeff Robbins said. “We have the most protective oil and gas regulations in the nation, and this builds on that foundation. It puts in place even stronger protections for Colorado families.”
Critics did not see it that way. “Doesn’t require any more than is required now, and it creates a roadmap for how an operator can drill in disproportionately impacted communities,” said Michael Freeman, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice.
These communities are low-income, of color, have vulnerable populations, or face disproportionate environmental burdens.
“It’s time we prioritize health,” said Rachael Lehman, environmental justice coordinator for Black Parents United Foundation. “For too long, economic impacts have been the only metric for success and been a guiding principle in permitting.”
One major point of contention was a requirement in a June draft that an operator seeking to drill within 2,000 ft of homes in a disproportionately impacted community, or DIC, obtain the consent of every resident.
The provision drew fire from the industry, which argued it could make the development of oil and gas reserves near impossible. It was dropped in the August draft upon which the final rules are based.
That move drew a letter from 22 legislators saying the August draft offered inadequate protections to disproportionately impact communities, failing to meet the goals set by state law.
In 2020, the commission adopted a rule requiring a 2,000-ft setback of drilling from homes and schools, unless an operator added measures that offered “substantially equivalent” protections as provided by the setback.
In the past 2 years, however, nearly half of the 87 oil and gas development plans approved on the Front Range, primarily in the shale-rich DJ Basin, were within 2,000 ft of homes, according to the ECMC’s annual evaluation of cumulative impacts.
“The commission adopted a setback in 2020 with great fanfare, but they haven’t been enforcing it,” said Freeman, the Earthjustice attorney.