{"id":108203,"date":"2015-11-17T20:39:12","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T03:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/regulators-discuss-proposed-rules-meant-to-ease-oil-and-gas-conflicts\/"},"modified":"2015-11-17T20:39:12","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T03:39:12","slug":"regulators-discuss-proposed-rules-meant-to-ease-oil-and-gas-conflicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/regulators-discuss-proposed-rules-meant-to-ease-oil-and-gas-conflicts\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulators discuss proposed rules meant to ease oil and gas conflicts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission began hearings Monday on proposals designed to address complaints that arise as Colorado\u2019s growing suburbs and oilfields collide.<\/span>Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates drilling, is considering two rules that would give regulators and local governments more say in the location of large oil and gas facilities in \u201curban mitigation areas,\u201d generally 1,000 feet from clusters of buildings.<\/p>\n

They would allow local governments to consult with energy companies on the location of large facilities, but they wouldn\u2019t be able to impose their own rules \u2013 only state regulations would apply. The proposals also would allow regulators to require companies to reduce the impact that big facilities have on people nearby.<\/p>\n

Energy company representatives have said the rules go too far and could hurt the state\u2019s important oil and gas industry. Colorado is the seventh-largest energy-producing state.<\/p>\n

The rules were among a handful of recommendations by a task force convened by Gov. John Hickenlooper to address tensions between the state\u2019s growing cities and the industry.<\/p>\n

Concern about the potential health and environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has heightened the conflicts. Fracking injects a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals underground to stimulate the flow of oil and gas into wells. The industry says it\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n

Bernie Buescher, a member of the task force who wrote the recommendation giving regulators more control over large facilities, told the commission on Monday that he didn\u2019t intend for that authority to be limited to areas near communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tool is only useful if it can be used everywhere,\u201d Buescher said.<\/p>\n

Brent Boydston, vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, said the proposals should recognize the role of property owners in discussions about the locations of wells and tanks. Frequently, the person who owns the land \u2013 called the surface owner \u2013 doesn\u2019t own the minerals underneath, requiring negotiations on property access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no assurance that the surface owner will actually have a say in what happens on their property\u201d under the proposed rules, Boydston said.<\/p>\n

Energy company representatives have said the rules go beyond what the task force recommended.<\/p>\n

Doug Flanders of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association said drilling near urban areas is likely to become more common. Flanders said 30 percent of the rich Denver-Julesburg Basin is within municipalities.<\/p>\n

The hearings continue Tuesday. It\u2019s not clear when the oil and gas commission will vote on the proposals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission began hearings Monday on proposals designed to address complaints that arise as Colorado\u2019s growing suburbs and oilfields collide.Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press file photo The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates drilling, is considering two rules that would give regulators and local governments more say in the location of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[94,21,221,109],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-108203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-cortez","tag-gas-and-oil","tag-montezuma-county-commissioner"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108203"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=108203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}