La Plata County is moving forward with an update to its oil and gas rules in 2022.

The county will rework the natural resources section of its land-use code to align with state regulations after the Colorado Legislature passed the Protect Public Welfare Oil And Gas Operations Act, reshaping how oil and gas developments are regulated in the state.

“(The act) changed how Colorado is going to approach oil and gas. Our current language, Chapter 90 as we call it in our code, no longer aligned with the state’s guidance,” said La Plata County Manager Chuck Stevens.

Over the next several months, planners with the county will update and rewrite the county’s oil and gas regulations with input from industry groups and the public. The county will host technical workshops with the oil and gas industry and community engagement workshops with the broader public so anyone with an interest in the rule-making process can offer input.

County commissioners and the county Planning Commission will also hold joint work sessions to refine the regulations before they are finally adopted later this year.

The update will mirror the process of the county’s recent 2020 update of its land-use code, even following the same timeline.

“What we really want is to follow the same model that we did with the land-use code, which is we do engagement up front,” Stevens said.

La Plata County first adopted an oil and gas code in December 1988. The rules have undergone changes over the last three and a half decades to clarify or address issues such as sound emission decibel levels, adjacent landowner notices and setback distances for oil and gas infrastructure. The last major update to the county’s oil and gas rules came nearly a decade ago in 2013.

But in recent years, the Colorado state government has transformed how oil and gas are regulated in the state.

Signed into law in April 2019, the Protect Public Welfare Oil And Gas Operations Act remolded the regulation of oil and gas development to emphasize public safety and health and the environment, going so far as to change the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Lawmakers repealed, added or amended 16 oil and gas statues.

“(The bill) prioritizes protecting the environment and regulation rather than maximizing production and minimizing waste,” Stevens said.

The law changed the mission of the COGCC from “fostering” to “regulating” oil and gas development in a way that protects the public and the environment.

It requires the COGCC “protect and minimize adverse impacts to public health, safety and welfare, the environment, and wildlife resources and protect against adverse environmental impacts on any air, water, soil or biological resource resulting from oil and gas operations,” according to a summary of the bill on the Colorado General Assembly’s website.

The COGCC can now consider the cumulative impacts and alternative locations for oil and gas development. It will also no longer consider the cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility of operations when regulating them.

Section 3 of the bill directs the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Quality Control Commission to minimize emissions of methane and other volatile organic compounds that can harm human health and the environment and to consider adopting more stringent air quality rules.

But perhaps the most significant change was the expansion of regulatory power for both the COGCC and local governments.

Under Colorado’s previous laws, local governments such as La Plata County could only exert their land-use authority over oil and gas development areas with “statewide interest” if approved by the COGCC. Oil and gas production was also exempt from county rules about noise.

The Protect Public Welfare Oil And Gas Operations Act gave back the authority of local governments to regulate the land use and surface impacts of oil and gas, including the power to inspect oil and gas facilities, impose fines and fees, and regulate noise.

“At the state level, everything changed,” Stevens said. “It’s a complete rewrite and change of direction.”

La Plata County is amending its oil and gas rules to incorporate the new direction for oil and gas and to realign county regulations with the law and the state.

The county aims to have an initial draft done by the end of March with an eye for technical workshops with industry and public engagement meetings between April and June. County commissioners and the Planning Commission will receive a draft of the new oil and gas rules by the end of June with the goal of adopting them sometime in the third quarter of the year, Stevens said.

The county is a full year behind on the update. The county’s original timeline showed the about yearlong process ending with adoption of the new rules by June 2022.

The pandemic and turnover among the county’s natural resource planners have delayed the update; two planners have come and gone as the county has moved ahead with its rewrite of Chapter 90. But the county continues to forge ahead with the goal of adopting the new rules sometime in 2022.

“We definitely lost some momentum and some time with staff turnover, but we are pushing ahead,” Stevens said. “We’re confident we're going to get it rewritten this year.”

ahannon@durangoherald.com