In the journey to confront climate change, speed is key, and delay is a killer. Colorado is off to a fast start cleaning up our economy, but we must avoid costly detours along the way. A new legislative proposal could help do just that — if it becomes law. Colorado is an unquestioned climate leader […]
Extraction Oil and Gas
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Broomfield’s “best practices” for oil and gas are held up as a model. But they don’t curb neighbors’ complaints.
Broomfield has been a leader in local regulation of oil and gas drilling, and its approach is being held up as a formula for allowing more drilling in suburban areas. But residents caution that while things may be better in Broomfield, that doesn’t make them good. Even with 147 required “best management practices” for operators, […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s largest oil and gas producer wants permission to drill closer than 2,000 feet from homes
The buffer between homes and oil and gas drilling in Colorado is by rule 2,000 feet, except when it isn’t, and a move to drill in the middle of a residential area in Firestone is raising questions about how secure that buffer will be. The state’s biggest operator, Occidental Petroleum, through its Colorado subsidiary Kerr-McGee, […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: If we don’t drill for oil and gas on federal lands, we’ll buy it from Russia
The budget reconciliation bill before Congress would, if passed with all the public lands provisions, drive oil and natural gas producers off federal lands in Colorado and across the West to other areas of the country or overseas. If passed as-is, it would achieve the President’s goal of “no federal oil.” The dozens of policies […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Nearly half of Colorado’s 52,000 wells produce little or no oil. Who’ll pay to plug them?
Sticking out like a sore thumb in the otherwise bucolic, rolling pastures and fields of hay, sit four rusting oil tanks, “Out of Service” stenciled on their sides, along with a scattering of other weathered and unusable equipment. For the better part of three years, Jon and Susanne Stephens have, without success, been trying to […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, News
Two Colorado oil companies announce merger, the latest in a consolidating industry
In a sign of the continued pressure to consolidate drilling operations, two of Colorado’s midsized oil and gas companies on Monday announced an all-stock merger to create a new company worth $2.6 billion. Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas said they will combine to create Civitas Resources, controlling 425,000 acres of leases across […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado oil and gas emissions rules begin to tighten, but gaps open over what is monitored, by whom and where
Colorado is moving to tighten air emissions from a range of oil and gas activities – including hydrofracturing or fracking – with a general consensus among industry, environmental and community groups. In two days of testimony before the state’s Air Quality Control Commission there was general support for proposed rules covering fracking and drilling, internal […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Oil and gas does about-face as six-week overhaul of Colorado drilling regulations begins
The battle lines are drawn and the forces – from high-priced lawyers to homeowners cheek and jowl with drilling rigs – arrayed for marathon hearings, starting Monday, aimed at reorienting Colorado’s oil and gas commission from promoting development to protecting public health and the environment. Through a set of proposed rules, the operation of the […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Energy, News, Politics and Government
Colorado increases tax on oil and gas operators to fund a $3.4 million shortfall in regulators’ budget
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Tuesday raised the tax it levies on oil and gas production in the state to fill a $3.4 million hole created by declining commodity prices – with the support of both industry and environmental groups. The support on the part of industry was the product of the […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Oil and gas bankruptcies are problematic for Colorado taxpayers
In the early morning hours of June 15, 2020, Extraction Oil and Gas, Inc. filed its long-awaited bankruptcy in federal district court. I say “long-awaited” because my organization has been litigating cases against Extraction since January 2019, and we have raised numerous concerns about the financial viability of the company in front of the Colorado […]