Environmental board keeps oil-gas oversight

State to have role in protecting water from drilling debris

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 11, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Local News

A state environmental board voted Tuesday to continue oversight of the state's oil and gas industry, a victory for local governments and environmentalists that pressed for more regulation of the fast-expanding industry.

The Water Quality Control Commission, a nine-member board appointed by Gov. Bill Owens, unanimously agreed to give state health regulators a role in protecting streams and rivers from dirt and debris that can run off land disturbed by oil and gas extraction.

The decision came after eight hours of testimony and deliberations spanning two days.

Commissioners heard from a parade of water districts, cities and green groups that emphasized the need to protect aquatic life and drinking water from sediments that come off thousands of drilling pads and access roads during heavy rainfall.

"It's so blatantly obvious that (oil and gas activities) have the potential of a major impact" to water quality, said Sybill Navas, a Vail businesswoman who serves on the water commission.

With the ruling, inspectors at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will scrutinize the industry's efforts to control storm-water runoff during construction at all sites covering more than one acre.

Health regulators were already overseeing erosion control at many oil and gas sites.

But after Congress exempted the industry from the federal Clean Water Act as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, industry officials challenged the state's authority to enforce its own clean water laws.

That dispute led to this week's hearing. Commissioners, pointing to a legal opinion from the Colorado attorney general's office, not only concluded that the state was within its rights to apply its own environmental rules but that constituents statewide were demanding it.

Water commissioners received about 2,300 public comments on the matter, and heard from no fewer than 30 local governments, water conservation districts and citizen groups that supported the health department's role.

Though most were on the Western Slope, home to widespread oil and gas development, many on the Front Range also backed regulation. Those parties included the Denver Regional Council of Governments, a planning agency for the metro area.

Environmentalists also pushed for the oversight.

John Woodling, a retired fisheries biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, testified that sediments filling up tributaries to the Colorado River were likely having an impact on Colorado River cutthroat trout.

"I can reference many studies that show an increase in sediment shows a decrease in fish populations," Woodling said.

Though industry officials had fought the state's role, they said after the vote they were optimistic that state health officials would work with them to make the process fair and efficient.

Oil and gas companies said they aren't opposed to regulation, but prefer that it come from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a separate state agency that already oversees many components of oil and gas development, including environmental protection.

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5048

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News