Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
An oil company that no longer exists faces a $344,000 fine Colorado doesn’t expect to collect. But that’s the point.
COGCC spent four years chasing a rogue oil company that left a mess in Huerfano County. Levying a fine it can’t collect lets the state grab a bond posted by Alta Mesa Resources to do the clean up.
Colorado doesn’t want to foot the bill for abandoned oil and gas wells. Here’s how it will avoid picking up the tab.
Senate Bill 181 told the state to strengthen “financial assurance” regs. COGCC now wants operators to guarantee the clean up of each well and the cost could run to the billions.
Joe Biden’s plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines and oil wells and support jobs to do it
Colorado Sen. Bennet also has introduced legislation to to clean up federal well and mine sites and strengthen bond requirements for drilling on public lands.
This Erie neighborhood is ground zero for Colorado’s collision of fracking and housing
Families who bought in Colliers Hill thought they were moving to an outdoor paradise. But the fine print in Colorado’s oil and gas regulations has rattled their lives.
Colorado gave local governments more power to regulate oil and gas. And some are using it.
The legislature’s 2019 overhaul of drilling rules through Senate Bill 181 empowered some cities and counties to prioritize safety. But other energy-friendly areas have held back on flexing their new muscles.
First-in-the-nation rule to slash methane emissions from Colorado oil and gas operations relied on compromise
Industry and environmental groups worked out a way to reduce emissions from new wells and old ones that contribute to Colorado’s ozone problem.
Colorado governor releases final plan to reduce emissions by 90%. It’s still too vague, environmentalists say.
The Air Quality Control Commission is responsible for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from millions of vehicles and industrial and office buildings
An environmental group claims 70% of Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions come from oil and gas. But that’s in dispute.
350 Colorado’s worst-case scenario modeling suggests oil and gas should be gone from the state by 2030 to slow climate change.
Colorado oil and gas regulators finalize new rules for the drilling industry — and themselves
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission changes include a requirement that most new drilling be set back at least 2,000 feet from homes and schools
“Flaring” at oil and gas wells to be curtailed as Colorado regulators adopt some of nation’s strictest rules
The practice of burning off natural gas is relatively rare in Colorado, but tough rules on flaring and venting may help the state meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Colorado draws 2,000-foot statewide oil and gas drilling setback. But it comes with a big “however.”
Regulators on Thursday set the new setback rule with “offramps” oil and gas companies can use to get as close as 500 feet to houses. A formal vote will come Nov. 6.
Colorado regulators back 2,000-foot setback for new oil and gas drilling in “paradigm shift”
In a session Wednesday to review proposed rule changes on setbacks, four of the five Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s members voiced support for an extended setback
Fight over Colorado setback rule sets up make-or-break hearing on how close is too close for oil and gas
The drawn-out battle over state rulemaking still centers on how far operations should be set back from homes and schools. But environmentalists say residents should not be “guinea pigs” while the work is done.
Democratic lawmakers, officials from oil and gas- dependent areas of Colorado clash on first day of rulemaking
State legislators and county commissioners butted heads over the role of local governments in approving drilling locations on the first day of a six-week process
Oil and gas does about-face as six-week overhaul of Colorado drilling regulations begins
Operators for years groused about the danger of a “patchwork” of regulations. Now they’re focused on letting local governments have control.