State vs. local government in regulating Colorado fracking - A guest post by Joeclyn Lavallee

I recently attended the 2013 Colorado State University Natural Gas Symposium and found one session to be particularly thought provoking. The session was titled “Community Engagement and Policy Solutions”. It was moderated by 
Bill Ritter and included A.J. Krieger, the Town Administrator of Erie, Colorado; Scott Hall, the CEO of Prospect Energy in Fort Collins, Colorado; and Ginny Brannon, the Assistant Director for Water and Energy at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Early on, A.J. Krieger described the process that Erie, Colorado has gone through to regulate, or attempt to regulate, hydraulic fracturing within its borders. Krieger raised two issues that I found particularly interesting and wanted to learn more about. The first was the conflict between state and local governments, and the second, which I write about in a separate post, was the link between hydraulic fracturing and local air pollution.

            The use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been growing throughout Colorado, and with it concerns over the health effects of materials used and produced during the fracking procedure. As a result, several municipalities in Colorado have proposed regulations on fracking operations. Longmont residents led the way, passing a resolution to ban fracking within city limits in Novermber, 2012¹. Now, residents of Boulder, Broomfield, and Fort Collins (home to CSU and the Natural Gas Symposium) are considering ballot measures that would enact moratoriums on fracking in their borders².

So, what’s the conflict? The Colorado State government insists that only it has the right to regulate oil and gas drilling. Only one month after the Longmont ban passed, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association filed a lawsuit to invalidate it, claiming that the ban is illegal because it denies the mineral right owners the right to develop their property³. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission President, Tisha Schuller, who spoke during another session at the symposium, warned that these municipalities should be ready to compensate oil and gas lease holders for the profits they’re missing out on¹.

The litigation is ongoing, but the other cities will have votes on their moratoriums in the meantime. When the courts do reach a decision, it will likely have sweeping affects across Colorado, either reinforcing the moratoriums or providing ammunition for mineral rights owners to go ahead with fracking operations. But the ranks of passionate parties on both sides will ensure that this fight doesn’t end any time soon.

¹http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/us/with-ban-on-fracking-colorado-town-lands-in-thick-of-dispute.html

²http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/20/cities-in-colo-to-vote-on-fracking-moratorium/

³http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_22211514/colorado-oil-and-gas-industry-sues-kill-longmont