State OKs drilling water rules
The state regulatory board that oversees oil and gas drilling gave final approval to new groundwater testing standards Monday in Denver.

On day one of a three-day public hearing on a set of new rules governing the industry, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission elected to adopt new water-testing regulations around drill sites. The move makes Colorado one of only three states to require such tests.

Under the new rules, companies are required to test water samples at up to four locations within a half mile of new wells prior to drilling. Once drilling is complete, they must follow up with two more tests at each location, once at six to 12 months, and again at five to six years. Currently, no other state requires post-drilling sampling.

However, the rule will not apply to wells in the Greater Wattenberg Area, north of Denver in Weld, Boulder and Larimer counties. For these wells, which account for more than 25 percent of the state’s existing wells, operators will be required to sample just four wells every square mile, once before and once after drilling.

According to the COGCC, the rule was adjusted for the Wattenberg Field based on the area’s unique “combination of energy development, agriculture and industrial and residential use.” However, any Weld County well owner may request water testing from a special county-run program.

The results of all the tests are available on the COGCC’s website, which started a sampling database last fall.

“Our commission has worked hard to arrive at an effective and reasoned place in developing this groundbreaking new rule,” said Commission Chairman Tom Compton, a Hesperus rancher. “We have listened carefully and considered the views of many parties, including many citizens, and we believe this rule gets us to a result that rigorously protects the environment while addressing and incorporating the varied concerns of numerous interests.”

However, the rules, which were a year in the making and meant to bridge the gap between energy development and public safety, left both industry and environmentalists wanting.

While the pro-industry Colorado Oil and Gas Association favored a less-stringent water-testing program, environmentalists said the rule did not go far enough.

However, Conservation Colorado Executive Director Pete Maysmith called the new testing standards weak and scientifically inadequate. “We are disappointed that Governor Hickenlooper’s administration failed to protect Colorado’s most precious natural resource – our water,” he said in a statement. “With increased drilling and fracking in Colorado, now’s the time to demand strong safeguards for oil and gas drilling.” He went on to call the Wattenberg loophole “egregious” and “large enough to drive a drill rig through.”

One bright spot for environmentalists was the Commission’s decision to deny a request from industry, homebuilders, ranchers and farmers to exclude testimony from people living near oil and gas sites. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the COGCC will be taking the testimony into account when considering new buffer standards. The COGCC is proposing a 500-foot buffer between wells and homes.

Maysmith said he hopes Commission member can be persuaded to make that buffer even larger. “We are enormously pleased the Commission made the obviously right decision to allow Coloradans impacted by oil and gas drilling to testify,” he stated. “It is essential the final rules require expanded buffer zones around wells larger than the 500 feet currently proposed. As citizens will testify to, drilling in someone’s back yard brings dramatic health and quality of life impacts. It is the state’s job to protect these residents as well as our air, land, water and communities.”

$1.3M emissions study announced
There was one thing both industry and environmentalists agreed upon at this week's rulemaking hearing of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: more in-depth study of the effects of oil and gas emissions is needed.

As a result, Gov. Hickenlooper announced plans to launch a significant study of emissions tied to oil and gas development this summer. The project will look at how oil and gas emissions behave, how they travel, and their characteristics in areas along the northern Front Range. A second phase will assess possible health effects using the date gathered in the first phase.

“This study marks another important step in our aggressive efforts to ensure oil and gas development is conducted with the highest standards of environmental protection,” said Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director Mike King. “We know that strong regulation and strong science build public confidence in this economically critical industry, one that provides thousands of jobs and energy that we all depend upon every day.”

This emissions study is the latest action from Hickenlooper an attempting to regulate rampant oil and gas development in the state. Last year, Colorado mandated the disclosure of fracking chemicals, forged more collaborative relationships between state and local regulators, increased oversight and posted the COGCC's water quality database on the Internet.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will contract with Colorado State University to conduct the study. It would be similar to an ongoing CSU-led study of oil and gas emissions in Garfield County. The first phase of the study is projected to cover a three-year period from July 2013 - June 2016. The second phase on health risk assessment would begin in January 2016.

The initial $1.3 million for the study will come from the COGCC's Environmental Response Fund, which is comprised of proceeds from oil and gas development.

– Missy Votel