Larimer County commissioners Tuesday voted 3-0 to immediately suspend processing of all new oil and gas applications.

The moratorium might be lifted after a public hearing scheduled for April 13.

Commissioners thought the moratorium necessary “to allow Larimer County reasonable time to revise their oil and gas regulations, for the safety, health and welfare of residents in Larimer County,” according to a news release.

Lesli Ellis, Community Development Director, said “we haven’t had any applications in the past year or so, so there’s no current or pending applications affected by the moratorium.”

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website shows nine drilling permit applications were filed Feb. 17 by Magpie Operating Inc., but Larimer county officials said via email “they are for drilling wells on an approved PAD site (Bunker 8). These are permits that the moratorium will not affect.” That site is near Loveland.

“We adopted some regulations last year,” Ellis said. “Then the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission had more recently gone through rulemaking and adopted new rules. Some of ours were in conflict and didn’t align.”

The commissioners want to hear from all stakeholders at the public hearing, she said, and more information will be forthcoming on how to submit testimony and/or participate in the April 13 meeting.

The decision was quickly met with strong words from industry voices, like the Colorado chapter of the American Petroleum Institute (API).

“We are taken aback and gravely concerned with Larimer County’s decision to impose a moratorium on new oil and gas development today,” said Lynn Granger, Executive Director, API Colorado, via email. “The county comprises a significant amount of development in the state, and just last year passed new rules and regulations after appointing a task force and receiving a great deal of community input.

“The county’s unilateral choice to halt new development sends a deeply harmful message to one of the county’s most important economic drivers.”

“After a yearlong stakeholder process by Larimer County in 2020 and an even longer process by the COGCC, initiating a moratorium now clearly shows that their political agenda matters more than good policy,” said Dan Haley, CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association. “This month-long moratorium must not become a rolling ban like the city of Boulder’s just so the newly elected commissioners can appease their campaign supporters and donors.”

In addition to Magpie, at least eight other oil and gas companies work in Larimer: Prospect Energy LLC, Extraction Oil and Gas Inc., Edge Energy II LLC, Blackrock Energy Corp., Kerr McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP, McWhinney Holding Co. LLLP, PDC Energy Inc. and Wellington Operating Co. According to the API, those companies produced 938,567 barrels of oil in 2020 and 6.8 million cubic feet of gas.

The commission’s sweeping new rules for oil and gas operators, including stricter setback limits, took effect January 15.