For Immediate Release
January 19, 2022
CONTACTS
Ramesh Bhatt, 859-333-4537, bhattlex@gmail.com
Alexis Schwartz, 850-766-6320, alexis.schwartz@sierraclub.org
Sponsor of SB19-181 Releases New Report Indicating that COGCC Has Not Properly Safeguarded Health, Safety, the Environment, and Wildlife.
DENVER, CO — Senate Bill19-181 (SB 19-181), passed in 2019, fundamentally changed the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission (COGCC), the state agency charged with regulating oil and gas production, from one of fostering production to protecting the health, safety, welfare of people and biological resources and the environment. Recently, former Senator Mike Foote, one of the prime sponsors of SB19-181, generated a report to the Sierra Club comparing its original intent to the implementation of SB19-181 thus far.
The COGCC has undertaken several rulemakings to implement SB19-181. One year has passed since the adoption of new regulations from the important “mission change” rulemaking that imposed, at least on paper, several new requirements and protective measures on oil and gas operations.
After a thorough analysis of the COGCC’s activities during the last year, Senator Foote concludes that, so far, the agency’s actions are not consistent with the requirements of SB19-181 to protect health, safety, the environment, and wildlife. According to Senator Foote, “The COGCC still operates from an outlook that presumes permitting of new facilities and the continued operation of existing facilities rather than first determining whether those activities are truly protective of people, the environment, and wildlife.”
The report notes that the COGCC approved over 680 wells and 7 Oil and Gas Development Plans in 2021, without denying a single permit. The report documents several areas in which the COGCC has fallen short, including continuing the philosophy of permitting operations as long as the operator’s permit application “checks all the boxes;” failure to implement protective setback rules, and inadequate enforcement that continue to endanger residents and wildlife near fracking operations. For example, the report notes that although the mission change rule presumed a 2000-foot setback from occupied dwellings, several plans have been approved that have dwellings much closer than that distance. The report concludes that “The oil and gas industry continues to operate in Colorado much as it did before SB19-181.”
“It is disappointing that, even after the passage of SB19-181, which was billed as a game changer, not much has changed in the way the oil and gas industry operates in Colorado. If people, wildlife, and the environment are truly to be protected, the COGCC has to fundamentally change its philosophy and operations,” says Ramesh Bhatt, the Chair of the Conservation Committee of the Colorado Sierra Club.
The report can be found here.