House GOP kills bill for local control of oil, gas regs

DENVER • Saying it threatens the state economy, Colorado’s House Republicans dumped a Democratic bill Monday evening that would have given local governments more power to regulate oil and gas companies.

After a four-hour hearing, the House Local Government Committee killed the measure 6 to 4 on a party line vote. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Matt Jones, D-Boulder, who painted it as a way local governments could tailor energy regulations for themselves.

Many who testified for of the bill charged that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees the industry, has not been doing its job, and that energy companies had kept many chemical spills a secret. In testimony against the measure, business groups espoused the well-paying jobs and huge influx of tax money the growing energy industry brings to the state.

It was an emotional afternoon, as well. At one point, Susan Hall’s two young grandchildren told the committee in unison, “We don’t want poison in our water.” Hall, from Broomfield, claims her family had developed serious health problems because of a nearby drilling operation.

Business groups won out.

Stan Dempsey, president of the Colorado Petroleum Association, told the committee that the oil and gas industry was responsible for 160,000 jobs in the state, and pumps $20 billion into the economy annually.

He said Jones’ bill is “clearly a disincentive for investment in Colorado,” and predicted that many companies would set up shop elsewhere.

“It’s an industry that needs to have strong regulation, but it needs to be regulated by one entity,” he told the committee.

Others, including many who have been party to negotiations between local governments and energy companies, said the state would only get in their way if the bill was defeated.

“In some ways, this bill is assuming that local governments will bring down the heavy hand of government,” said Dominick Moreno, mayor pro-tem of Commerce City. “I don’t understand the fear of giving local governments a seat at the table.”

The committee’s two Colorado Springs legislators were just as divided. Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, were on opposite sides of the argument.

“The ones who are closest to the people are the ones who will make the best decisions,” said Lee, and added that he is “totally committed to job creation.”

Gardner, however, said the current state regulations and the COGCC itself are already weighing unfairly on the industry, and that the bill smacked of partisanship.

The bill was defeated at a time when oil and gas drilling is at a crossroads in El Paso County — the county commission approved new regulations for the industry three weeks ago.

And Ultra Resources just last week began laying a road to a drilling site in the southeastern part of the county, after roughly a year of wrangling with the county commission. Ultra holds most of El Paso’s 2,500 oil and gas leases, and owns about 18,000 acres of land in the Banning Lewis Ranch, in eastern Colorado Springs.