oil and gas
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Boulder County oil, gas leases not terminated after temporary maintenance pause, Supreme Court says
The Colorado Supreme Court walked back a ruling by the state’s second-highest court on Monday, holding that a pair of oil and gas leases in Boulder County did not terminate simply because the pipeline operator halted production for four months to make repairs. The justices’ ruling had implications for extraction operations throughout the state, with…
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Colorado Supreme Court eases path for local governments to sue over state decisions
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday threw out a decades-old rule restricting the ability of local governments to sue over state decisions, finding “confusion has developed” over who can seek judicial review and when. At the same time, in a pair of decisions, the justices concluded Adams County School District 14 could not challenge the state…
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Colorado Supreme Court considers whether local governments may sue over state decisions
If local governments in Colorado are unable to challenge the state’s actions in court, it may be because of Martin. “Martin” is not a person, but rather a rule developed by the Colorado Supreme Court over several decades. As it stands, government entities cannot seek judicial review of a state agency’s act when they are…
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Industry critics: Proposed legislation threatens to limit oil & gas industry in Colorado
A new bill just introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives threatens to “functionally prohibit new permitting for most industrial processes in the state,” the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute Colorado asserted on Friday. House Bill 23-1294, introduced by Rep. Jennifer Bacon and Jenny Wilford and co-sponsored by Sen. Faith…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts cases on forced blood draws, mineral rights
The Colorado Supreme Court agreed to review two cases on appeal in the past two weeks, with one questioning the constitutionality of forced blood testing on suspected drunk drivers and the other involving a dispute over oil and gas rights underneath a public street in Greeley. At least three of the court’s seven members must…
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Colorado Supreme Court rules, 4-3, state’s oil and gas regulators not empowered to resolve contract dispute
By 4-3, Colorado’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission does not have the authority to resolve a contract dispute between a well operator in Garfield County and those who are owed royalties from the extraction operations, putting a stop to a half-decade of ping-ponging between venues. The majority’s decision…
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Denver advocates call for action against methane emissions
Environmental, health and frontline advocates in Colorado want President Biden to take immediate action on methane pollution. They rallied Thursday at the EPA’s Regional Denver Office as part of a nationwide effort to push for more regulation of the oil and gas industry’s methane pollution. In 2021, the EPA proposed a draft rule to cut methane…
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OUT WEST ROUNDUP | Officials weigh emergency actions in drought-stricken states
THE WEST Emergency response weighed as drought worsens FLAGSTAFF, Ariz- Federal officials say it may be necessary to reduce water deliveries to users on the Colorado River to prevent the shutdown of a huge dam that supplies hydropower to some 5 million customers across the U.S. West. Officials had hoped snowmelt would buoy Lake Powell…
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Commerce City’s Suncor refinery faces new pollution regulations
The Suncor refinery in Commerce City is facing new pollution control standards from the state as the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division moves forward on updating long-expired air pollution permits that Suncor applied to renew in 2010 and 2016. Under Title V of the 1990 Clean Air Act, state and federal regulators are required to…
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Colorado Oil & Gas Commission examining industry’s financial obligations to orphan wells
Colorado’s Oil & Gas Commission this week started the process for changing the rules regarding the financial obligations drilling companies must comply with to clean up “orphan wells.” An orphaned well is one that is no longer operating for whatever reason, and that must be “plugged, remediated and reclaimed” by the state. Often they’ve been…