Colorado Democratic senators say they will introduce a bill banning new oil and gas drilling in Colorado by 2030 and demanding companies pay more to seal up old wells, bringing into the Capitol a fight that has previously played out in statewide ballot petitions and fall elections.
Environmental groups have been moving to get a similar ban on the November 2024 ballot, but are strongly backing the legislative effort by Sens. Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Boulder County and Kevin Priola of Henderson. They say the ban on new drilling would be phased in to first protect minority and lower-income residents in disproportionately impacted communities, before becoming complete in 2030.
The ban would allow for continued pumping from existing wells, but would also phase out modifications to those thousands of wells through redrilling or deepening. Unused drilling permits would expire. Previous operators of orphaned wells would have to pay more to hasten state cleanup efforts.
“Many Coloradans agree with us that we can’t keep drilling forever,” Jaquez Lewis said, in an email Sunday. “Oil and gas emissions are negatively impacting public health. This legislation makes sure that Colorado takes strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by putting a definite end date on new well permits so we can work towards a sustainable energy future.”
The legislature should also pass studies of how to redesign Colorado’s training and workforce economy for a fair transition for the thousands of workers in good-paying oil and gas jobs, the backers say. Existing wells will pump on for decades even if the ban passes, they note.
Jaquez Lewis said she is not under pressure from Gov. Jared Polis, who in the past has not backed the toughest oil and gas restrictions, to kill the idea before it’s introduced.
“As far as the governor is concerned, I try to work with him on all my legislation and will do so on this policy,” she said. “I know he is committed to doing what we can to increase renewable energy and reduce the tragic effects of climate change.”
Colorado’s oil and gas industry, concentrated in highly productive hydraulically fractured (or fracked) wells in Weld County, will aggressively fight the bans, as it has fought against residential well setbacks and other restrictions.
“The proposal pays no mind to private property rights, our industry’s dramatic economic contributions to Colorado, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers, nor a swath of rule-making over the past half-decade that has cemented our state as a truly global leader in safe and responsible energy production,” said Kait Schwartz, director of American Petroleum Institute Colorado.
Polis declared “an end to the state’s purported oil and gas wars” in 2019, Schwartz said, when the governor signed a bill giving local governments more power to restrict drilling and directing state agencies to cut industry emissions.
“If this bill were to pass, it would not only crush the economy, but it would hurt the environment by relying on foreign countries with lesser environmental standards to provide the energy we need,” said Dan Haley, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. Colorado produces some of the “cleanest” oil and gas in the nation, “under the most stringent regulations,” he said. “Any attempt to ban this reliable and clean energy could also hurt consumers, as lack of supply inevitably drives up costs even further when our state is already locked in an affordability crisis.”
Environmental groups promoting the legislative effort so far include 350 Colorado, WildEarth Guardians and Colorado Coalition for a Livable Climate. They and others have hammered the legislature and regulators in recent years for multiple restrictions on oil and gas for two primary reasons: Reducing the leaks of methane and other pollutants that contribute to local toxic ozone on the Front Range, and cutting Colorado’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
Some oil and gas opponents also claim the industry is increasingly anachronistic in Colorado as car buyers begin to adopt electric vehicles and utilities reduce burning natural gas in favor of renewable energy sources.
Jaquez Lewis in promoting the possible ban said Colorado exports 40% of its oil for use outside the state, and 75% of its natural gas.
“Colorado communities get the pollution while oil and gas companies profit off shipping most of their product out of state,” said Heidi Leathwood, climate policy analyst for 350 Colorado. The group says there are 48,000 active wells in Colorado that will produce for years, and that 120,000 wells have been drilled across Colorado since the early 1900s.
Advocates of the ban noted that New York has previously banned fracking, but that Colorado would be the first major oil and gas producer in the United States to implement the bar on new wells.
API’s Schwartz suggested the environmental groups back a legislative ban on drilling because they’d like to avoid the time and expense of getting their own ban on the 2024 statewide ballot. A ban in the legislature would “singularly eliminate a foundation of our state economy and identity on account of a handful of lawmakers’ malicious efforts to advance the agenda of environmental extremists,” Schwartz said.
