The Larimer County, Colorado, commissioners approved regulations for new oil and gas facilities in the county that match or exceed state rules.
After a long discussion and a few amendments to rules recommended by the county planning commission, the commissioners voted 2 to 1 to adopt changes to the county Land Use Code that would cover oil and gas development.
Commissioner John Kefalas voted against the regulations, saying more could have been done to protect public health and safety, the environment, and wildlife resources.
Kefalas, a Democrat, said he would have preferred more monitoring of air and water quality as part of the regulations, but his efforts to amend the regulations to make them stricter failed to gain traction with his fellow commissioners.
GOP Commissioners Tom Donnelly and Steve Johnson said the rules reflect compromises that were reached after an 18-month process that involved citizens, a 15-member task force, and county staff in developing the regulations.
Donnelly noted that Larimer County has had no regulations on oil and gas facilities, leaving their approval and monitoring to state agencies. Now, the county will have a say in how facilities are developed and operated from a land-use perspective, he said.
It’s a significant change, he said; the county has come a long way.
“I think the best regulations … are those that can kind of try to meet in the middle and find the best of both sides of the issue,” Donnelly said. “I think to the extent that it’s possible … we’ve done that with these regulations.”
Johnson said among the many comments received about the proposed regulations were requests to vote against them because they are too lenient and requests to vote against them because they are too strict.
The commissioners kept in place a recommendation from the planning commission for a minimum 1,000-ft setback for residential and commercial buildings from new oil and gas operations. The rule allows the commissioners to grant variances on setbacks depending on circumstances.