A comprehensive revamp of regulations governing oil and gas development in Colorado has state regulators working toward deadlines that industry representatives worry may be requiring too much too fast.
“We are in uncharted territory, as we’ve never seen multiple large rulemakings folded together into a single mega rulemaking,” said Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA).
“There is really no facet of our industry that either won’t be under a regulatory microscope this year, or hasn’t been thoroughly examined or revamped in the past few years,” Haley said.
The big push was mandated by SB 19-181, a law enacted in April 2019 that requires a change of regulatory focus from fostering oil and gas development to regulating for the protection of public health, safety, the environment, and wildlife.
The drive to get the job done is continuing despite restrictions on meetings imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. COGA, many Colorado communities and regulators have said in-person meetings are better for sorting out problems, but nevertheless regulators are resorting to “virtual” meetings.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is making progress on a large number of technical and procedural rules rolled together into an extensive Mission Change rulemaking to update hundreds of pages of regulations. Other rulemakings also are underway. A hearing Apr. 29 was devoted to reviewing a proposed schedule for the 2020 workload, with a target of Nov. 1 for the effective date of the Mission Change rules.
Feedback
Jeff Robbins, director of the commission staff, told commissioners during the Apr. 29 hearing that he had been involved in many stakeholder meetings over the last several months during which various issues had been identified and resolutions proposed.
Robbins said more interaction with stakeholders would be a central activity through May and part of June, and more feedback from stakeholders will be received especially during an Aug. 24-Sept. 10 final stage for many of the changes. He prefers face-to-face meetings, but he said the commission might have to settle for virtual meetings.
The scale of the work to be done this year worries Haley at COGA as he watches drafts of regulatory changes develop.
“These changes are being dictated by arbitrary schedules set up first by the legislature, which rushed SB 181 through the General Assembly, and then by regulators,” Haley said. “The result has been rules drafted with little ‘boots on the ground’ realistic input.”
He added, “The world is changing quickly because of the pandemic and the collapsing economy, yet that’s really not reflected in what’s happening with state regulators.”
Haley argued Colorado already has “the most rigorous and comprehensive set of environmental regulations in the country,” which means there is no reason to rush the changes.
Progress and problems
A wellbore integrity rulemaking is one of the more prominent elements in the changes. The commission has been drawing on recommendations from the State Oil and Gas Regulatory Exchange (SOGRE), a collaborative effort of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and the Ground Water Protection Council.
COGA has reviewed SOGRE recommendations, “and we have been coordinating with all parties and stakeholders for several months now, preparing for this rulemaking,” Haley said.
“We agree that beefing up the rules and making them consistent with best practices is the right thing to do,” Haley said. “In most cases, the SOGRE recommendations are things companies are already doing, and this rulemaking will make it consistent for everybody.”
Air regulations are being revised not only by the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission but other agencies, and there have been conflicts.
In December came air pollution rule changes from the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) and the Air Quality Control Commission of the state Department of Public Health and Environment.
“Conversations about complicated technologies and emission reductions need to be steeped in facts, not scare tactics or suppositions,” COGA said in a statement released Dec. 20. “Yet the strident anti-industry tone from the APCD staff today during its rebuttal was striking and a departure from how we’ve done business in Colorado in the past.”
More air and water rulemakings are coming, including for emission reductions from engines, greenhouse gas controls, additional air monitoring, and waste management, to name just a few, Haley said.
