American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2018 - 34

Local Development Disputes Abound
By Dan Larson
Special Correspondent
From Pennsylvania to California, "keep
it in the ground" activists who have organized to shut down oil and natural gas
development in their communities are
rallying around the mantra of local control,
industry leaders report. Moreover, they
warn, companies should expect such opposition to intensify.
In May 2013, commissioners in Mora
County, N.M., voted to ban all oil and gas
development, in what was considered the
first such action in the country (AOGR,
June 2013, pg. 16). Although a federal
court declared the ordinance unconstitutional
and the commission withdrew it in March
2015, New Mexico has continued to see
more efforts at local oil and gas regulation,
most recently in Sandoval County, where
commissioners were to consider in January
revising the county's oil and gas regulations,
reports the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico.
The controversies extend far beyond
the Land of Enchantment. In Colorado,
where the past decade saw the industry
notch several important victories against
local bans and moratoria at the same
time it faced a regular cycle of state regulatory rule making, the opposition is relentless and determined, describes Colorado Oil & Gas Association President
and Chief Executive Officer Dan Haley.
Press accounts list six community organizations formed in the latter half of
2017 that all share a stated mission to
prevent any new oil and gas development
in communities along Colorado's Front
Range.
"Make no mistake," Haley advised association members at the group's annual
meeting in November. "Our industry is
under attack."
Bait-And-Switch
In Pennsylvania, home to the Community Environmental Legal Defense
Fund, a federal judge on Jan. 5 issued
sanctions amounting to $52,000 against
two of the group's attorneys for their
"continued pursuit of frivolous claims
and defenses" related to litigation about
local government's refusal to acknowledge a disposal well permit (see story
page 18).
Elsewhere, the group, which promotes
itself as pioneer for community rights,
claims it has organized local affiliates to
push for drilling moratoria, fracturing
bans and permit denials for pipelines and
34 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

oil trains in California, Colorado, Illinois,
New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania
and Texas.
At the center of the latest legal wrangling is an ordinance authored by CELDF
and passed by the Grant Township, Pa.,
council in 2014 that banned an injection
well's permits.
According to industry representatives,
the township ordinance and others like it
claim legal primacy for the local government and assert the right to pre-empt
state or federal rules while concurrently
stripping companies of their property
rights. Under that reasoning, state permits
are invalid if they cover any activity that
runs afoul of community laws.
According to public statements from
the foundation's leader, CELDF's other
underlying principle is to award rights to
nature and ecosystems. "This challenges
one of the fundamental underpinnings of
our current legal system-that the natural
environment is property and those who
own the most property can destroy nature,"
characterizes CELDF Chief Executive
Thomas Linzey.
He also publicly acknowledges that
legal action against a local government
supports its mission by inciting outrage
among residents and driving "creation
of a statewide community rights network
to drive constitutional change at the
state level."
Fundamentally changing government
is CELDF's ultimate goal, maintains
Jackie Stewart, Ohio state director for
Energy In Depth. "The local control fraccing bans that CELDF uses against the
oil and gas industry are a bait-and-switch,"
she holds. "Fortunately, when people realize what is going on-that the so-called
Community Bill of Rights is just a ruse
to build support for CELDF's rights of
nature campaign-they get aggravated.
"If CELDF was really serious about
banning hydraulic fracturing, it would
take the fight to (the Capitol)," Stewart
suggests. "It knows it would not get anywhere, because our legislators understand
what is going on and repeatedly have
said they will not allow that because
shale development has poured more than
$50 billion into the state's economy."
Effective Response
Stewart says she emphasizes two key
messages about CELDF. "First, I make it
clear that these people are not from Ohio,
they are not your neighbors and they are
not actually local concerned citizens.
They are a well-coordinated litigation

factory, funded by large national environmental groups and they do not have
your best interests at heart," she describes.
"Second, their actions in your town, even
under the guise of free legal advice, eventually will cost the taxpayers. From the
election filings to the legal defense, a lot
of taxpayer money is at stake.
"CELDF knows its legal positions are
groundless as the recent federal court decision proved, but it keeps coming back,"
Stewart adds.
Next up will be a pair of statewide
initiatives CELDF hopes to place on the
ballot for Ohio's November 2018 election,
she notes (see story, page 27). "It will require money and local coordination across
the state, which they currently do not
have," Stewart relates. "But nothing is
impossible, and the campaign organizers
at CELDF are persistent, so you never
know."
In the meantime, Stewart continues to
encourage companies to engage their
neighbors, address their questions and
be prepared to stay in the game, even
from the sidelines.
"After the curtain lifts to reveal how
this organization operates and its true
mission is exposed, the pushback will
come organically from the chambers of
commerce, building trades or political
leaders," Stewart concludes.
Counting On Controversy
California Independent Petroleum Association President Rock Zierman acknowledges that a significant segment of
the Golden State population opposes
fossil fuels in principle, whether because
of climate change, pollution or perceived
health hazards.
"We always count on the controversy,"
Zierman describes. "There are small but
very loud groups in these hot spots.
Whenever they see any kind of drilling
rig, they protest."
Zierman describes a trio of efforts
by opposition groups to restrict development, or in the case of Los Angeles,
impose setbacks on existing production
that effectively could spell its end. Promoted by Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling (STAND-LA), a community organization that claims to bring
"residents, health practitioners and communities of faith working together to
protect low-income communities of color" from nearby oil production, the proposed 2,500-foot setback it advocates
may shut down 90 percent of the city's
322 active oil wells, calculates the Cali-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2018

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