Durango Oil and Gas Public Meeting

Stand up for New Oil and Gas Protections

After nearly a decade in the making, Colorado passed major oil and gas reforms in 2019 affirming that its agency, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), will place health, safety, and the environment before industry profits.

Now, the COGCC is holding a series of upcoming rulemakings required by these legislative reforms. These rulemakings will create new policies surrounding the COGCC’s new mission, alternative location analysis, and cumulative impacts analysis.

The COGCC is hosting a stakeholder outreach meeting in Durango on Friday February 21^st to provide an overview of these rulemakings and take public comment. Your voice is critical to the outcome of these new rules- come tell the COGCC that Coloradans want new oil and gas policies that prioritize health, safety, and the environment!

Background Information

To fulfill their new mission, the COGCC is updating the rules and regulations governing the oil and gas industry. The COGCC was also directed to create and implement two new forms of analysis that will ensure their permitting decisions fully account for the protection of our health and safety, the environment, and wildlife.

These analyses are known as Alternative Location Analysis, which requires operators to propose alternative locations for development that will minimize impacts to health, safety, and the environment, and Cumulative Impacts, which requires the COGCC to take a holistic view of the impacts of drilling in the immediate, short, and long term to a wide range of topics related to health, safety, the environment, and wildlife.

Tips For Public Comment

Tell the COGCC who you are and where you live, and be sure to personalize your comments! You are an expert on your own story- talk about why you care about this issue and how you are personally impacted.

Talking Points:

• All rules must be statewide in order to protect all Coloradans. We oppose any basin specific exceptions, as both urban and residential impacts should be considered.

• All rulemakings must prioritize protecting health, safety, the environment, and wildlife over corporate interests
  

Mission Statement: Key Messages

• Impacted people and communities deserve access and adequate notice to be involved and influential in the permitting process.
• Environmental resources, including wildlife and habitat, such as riparian areas, and public water supplies and groundwater should be strongly protected.

Alternative Location Analysis: Key message

• Alternative Location Analysis should carefully evaluate locations that push development into communities with already high levels of pollution and density of oil and gas development.

Cumulative Impact Analysis: Key message

• The Cumulative Impact analysis should include an evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and effects on climate change from oil and gas development