Colorado’s Senate sent a reworked SB 181 with House amendments to Gov. Jared Polis (D) for his signature on Apr. 3 by a 19-16 vote. Officials from the Colorado Oil & Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Council jointly said that they continue to oppose the measure despite some improvements in it.
If signed into law as expected, the bill will increase local-government authority over oil and gas operations, give priority to environmental protection over resource development in state regulation, lower industry representation on the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, and add impediments to forced pooling.
“While a few critical amendments were added that begin to address some of industry’s concerns and provide a degree of certainty to our member companies, our industry remains firmly opposed to this bill because it threatens one of the pillars of Colorado’s economy,” COGA Pres. Dan Haley and CPC Spokesman Ben Marter jointly said. CPC is a division of the American Petroleum Institute.
“While we clearly disagree on this bill, we appreciate that legislative leaders heard us and opened a dialogue in the final 2 weeks about the unintended, and intended, consequences of the legislation as introduced,” they said.
Polis was expected to approve the measure, which was introduced on Mar. 3 and scheduled days later for initial Senate consideration. COGA and CPC expressed concern at the time that the bill was moving ahead without adequate public input (OGJ Online, Mar. 6, 2019).
“State officials have committed to working with industry experts during the highly complex regulatory rulemakings following the bill’s enactment,” Haley and Marter said.
