The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission unveiled proposed new rules to bolster public protections from oil and gas development and enhance local governments’ role in the permitting process in accordance with Senate Bill 181.

“SB19-181 changed the mission of COGCC to put public health, safety, welfare, wildlife and the environment protections first,” said the commission’s director, Jeff Robbins. By July, the commission will transition to full-time members who have subject matter expertise, but no conflicts of interest with the industry they regulate.

Explicit in the changes is the guarantee that “Nothing in the Commission’s Rules constrains the legal authority conferred to Local Governments…to regulate Oil and Gas Operations in a manner that is more protective or stricter than the Commission’s Rules.”

Multiple localities have implemented temporary moratoriums on oil and gas extraction, and Boulder County extended theirs through July in part to see how the state’s rulemaking would progress. The new guidelines also give local governments a right to consult with the operators of proposed well sites prior to the commission director’s recommendation for approval. Jurisdictions may request that the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment be part of the consultation, and the department may engage with the operator on its own.

Operators would need to provide a description of how their proposed facility would affect and and water quality, wildlife, traffic, light, noise and other pollution. The rules call for the establishment of a “single cumulative daytime ambient noise level and a single cumulative nighttime ambient noise level”.

There will be a further public hearing on wellbore integrity on April 29-30.

A 2019 report commissioned by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association found that the industry supported 89,000 jobs in Colorado. Amid the rulemaking, five statewide ballot initiatives that would increase setback requirements of wells from occupied structures are undergoing a challenge in the state Supreme Court, as is a related measure to require operators to demonstrate the financial ability to close and clean up their wells.