Last week, a measure creating an independent state gas and oil board was cleared for signature gathering in Colorado. The measure, Prohibit Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from Making Certain Rules Less Stringent Initiative, would replace the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission with a new board made up of an even mix of Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated representatives, and appointed by a panel of retired judges.
The measure is being supported by Diane Schwenke of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and Dave Davia of the Colorado Association of Mechanical and Plumbing Contractors. The new commission board would make oil and gas regulations less stringent, which is the exact opposite of the goal of Colorado Rising’s measures. According to their website, Colorado Rising is a statewide nonprofit working to protect our communities from the dangers to public health and safety of fossil fuel operations.
They were supporting six different initiatives, all with the intent to increase the required setbacks between oil and gas facilities and homes to 2,000 to 2,500 feet and increase the bonds companies must pay to ensure well sites are properly shut down and cleaned up.
In the beginning of June, negotiations between these two groups fell through. Schwenke and Davia said that they were working with Colorado Rising on a deal where the setback initiatives would be dropped, but the group decided not to pursue the deal. It’s unclear why the negotiations fell through.
There also seems to be some turmoil within the supporters of the setback initiatives. Colorado Rising sent a letter to supporters last week claiming they were withdrawing their efforts to make the 2020 ballot and cited COVID-19 as the reason. However, Lee Anne Lee Foster said that she and another proponent, Suzanne Spiegel, submitted the six initiatives that Colorado Rising was backing and have decided against withdrawing them. The decision to withdraw or not ultimately lies with Foster and Spiegel. They are hoping to at least have one of their measures qualify and will continue signature gathering efforts independently. Foster was a Colorado Rising employee until April 27th. Foster declined to comment on whether the initiative was related to her departure.
