American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 45

. . to regulate the location when permitting
large scale oil and gas facilities for the
purpose of reducing impacts and conflicts
with communities."
These protocols would include "siting
tools to locate facilities away from residential areas when feasible" and "mitigations to limit the intensity and scale of operations" when relocation is not feasible.
Under recommendation 17, an operator
would be required to meet with local
government when considering a well site
location, and to include notation of local
government approval in his application
for a permit to drill. If an agreement is
not reached, mediation may be pursued,
and if that fails, an APD with the operator's
proposed location would go to hearing
before the commission, the recommendation states.
"This is an example of how the civic
leaders on the task force recognize the
final authority for siting a well has to
stay with the state," observes Flanders.
Recommendations 17 and 20-both of
which were approved unanimously by
the task force-direct the COGCC to address issues of local government involvement in siting wells and the impacts of
development, Flanders points out.
"These are issues we have dealt with
for decades," he says. "COGA member
companies have a history of coming to
the table and finding solutions that work
for the community and the state. Problems
come when the opposition continues to
push new regulations under the guise of
local government control. Ultimately,
they want to drive us out of the state.
"They may argue that it simply is
about giving local governments a say,"
Flanders continues. "But local government
already has an enormous say and influence
in the final outcome. What they really
want is for local government to have a
veto over state authority and to be allowed
to have the final 'no.'"

No Local Veto
Hickenlooper, in a statement announcing the task force membership last September, indicated the goal was to provide
equitable representation for stakeholder
groups. He named eight civic and nonenergy-industry leaders, seven members
with affiliation to the environmental community, and six oil and gas industry executives.
"We saw early in the process that the
civic leaders were not going to allow the
environmentalists to blow up the current
system," praises Flanders.
He adds, "Increasing setbacks quickly
went nowhere and (task force member,
former speaker of the Colorado House

of Representatives, and executive director
of the Colorado departments of Natural
Resources and Transportation) Russ
George made it clear that he would not
support any effort to give veto power to
local government. Throughout the process,
the opposition was not open to compromise
and so, even with their voting bloc, (environmentalists) were unable to get approval for any of their more radical recommendations."
Co-Chairwoman Gwen Lachelt says
in a letter to task force members, after
they concluded their work, that she was
disappointed the group did not send a
strong recommendation to the governor
and legislature that local governments
should have more authority in siting wells
and mitigating impacts of development.
In particular, Lachelt cited the failure
of one recommendation that would have
blocked drilling a well where the operator
had a state-approved APD, but not the
approval of local government. She claimed
the recommendation failed because it
was misrepresented "during the 11th hour
as veto power over development."
However, Flanders counters, Lachelt
and other local control advocates on the
task force voted against a recommendation
that would have provided the COGCC
with added flexibility to create or amend
drilling units to consider surface impacts.
Also, he says, a proposal to increase local
government input through use of memorandums of understanding, best management practices, and comprehensive drilling
plans also failed to win their support.
Among recommendations that were
approved, number 41 calls for creating a
clearinghouse within the governor's energy
office to manage and disseminate information about industry activities and practices, as well as relevant federal, state
and local regulations.
Recommendations 25 and 31b direct
the COGCC and the CDPHE to secure
funding for their respective local government designee programs, and for inspection and health-risk assessment staff.
Looking ahead, Flanders says the task
force recommendations are not the end
of the process. To the contrary, he says.
"Between rule makings and meetings
with local government, we have a lot of
work to do. While the other side deemed
the task force a failure before a final vote
was even cast, we believe these recommendations are sensible solutions with
reasonable changes. However, we don't
have the luxury of walking away because
we didn't get everything we wanted. We
have to make these things workable, not
only for industry but for all Coloradans."Ì
APRIL 2015 45

http://www.aogr.com

American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015