Colorado has long established itself as a resource-rich state that is host to a robust natural-gas industry. As that industry has grown, so have the state and its localities in addressing the effects that gas and oil production brings to communities where the activity occurs. The evolution has not necessarily been wholly smooth, nor is it complete, but on balance, Colorado and its counties and cities have created an equilibrium that allows gas and oil development while addressing human health and environmental effects associated with that industry.
That is in large part because of the ongoing back-and-forth between and among differently positioned interests concerned about gas and oil development. Advocates for ending, limiting or regulating the activity – along with industry representatives pushing back, and land and resource managers weighing in – have been instrumental in crafting the framework guiding how it is conducted in the state. The pendulum swing between pro- and anti-drilling sentiments and rules is getting narrower, and setting aside the issue of whether Americans should be using natural gas as an energy source or look instead to renewable options like wind and solar energy, the gas and oil development environment in Colorado is relatively healthy, responsive and balanced.
The 2013 Colorado legislative session confirmed that assessment. Gas and oil development critics pushed for sweeping changes to that environment, with proposals that would have put a moratorium on fracking in Colorado, banned industry officials from serving on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and increased site inspections at drilling locations. Despite Democratic majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, these measures could not find purchase and withered in the Capitol. Their proponents claim that extensive industry lobbying doomed the suite of drilling- related proposals, but an alternate interpretation suggests that the rules Colorado already has enacted – as well as the agency empowered to enforce those rules – are functioning fairly effectively and sweeping changes are not now needed.
It is always appropriate to review, refine, rescind or reinvigorate the regulatory framework governing any activity, particularly one that can have significant effects on air and water quality, land, wildlife, human health and other critical resources. That is part of a healthy policy process, and the current configuration of the COGCC allows for such tweaking with input from all interests associated with gas development. There is balance on that board, and there are workable rules in place – neither of which is to say that the system is perfect, but it functions effectively to consider a wide array of issues and allow gas and oil development to occur where and how it is appropriate. Critics of that development as well as its advocates can all thank themselves for the functional framework Colorado has crafted.
While advocates for more stringent rules may consider their efforts during the legislative session to have been fruitless, they served an important function: rekindling a critical conversation and testing the efficacy of the rules and structure governing gas and oil development. They are, by and large, healthy.
