Earlier this year Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Broomfield Mayor Randy Ahrens talked about the oil and gas issues facing Broomfield.
The two continued their conversation Thursday when Hickenlooper met with City Council members at the Broomfield Combined Courts following a bill signing.
“One of the things you told me was, ‘I know you guys will get it right.’ You also said we all need to coexist,” Mayor Randy Ahrens said to the governor.
Ahrens wrote a letter to Hickenlooper last week on behalf of Broomfield City Council asking him to not appeal the Martinez vs. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission case to the Colorado Supreme Court.
In that case, the Colorado Court of Appeals sided with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez and several other teenagers who claim the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee has been misinterpreting the law. They want COGCC to elevate the protection of public health and environment to “a condition that must be fulfilled” by the state before oil and gas drilling can be done.
The most recent ruling from the Colorado Court of Appeals found that the COGCC improperly balanced the interests of public health, safety, welfare and the environmental against the interests of fostering development and extraction of oil and gas, the letter reads. Broomfield officials share the court’s concerns and encouraged Hickenlooper to direct the COGCC to not seek an appeal.
Hickenlooper said his office is not asking to appeal the Martinez case — an announcement that drew a round of applause. However, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman on Thursday went ahead and filed an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court asking for review of that Martinez case ruling.
Also discussed at Thursday’s meeting was Broomfield’s Oil & Gas Comprehensive Plan Update Committee. That task force is made up of 14 community members, including executives from ExxonMobile, Ahrens said. On May 23, it plans to make a much-anticipated presentation to council.
Broomfield officials would like to see the task force finish its job before Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc., submits spacing applications, some of which could be filed as soon as May 25 with the COGCC. The committee also wants to complete an alternative site analysis beforeit makes recommendations.
“It doesn’t make much sense to have that before the task force is done,” Ahrens said. “We think we need to be able to share with Matt Lepore (director of the COGCC) the findings, recommendations and suggestions. Hopefully that will allow Matt and others to look at our concerns, see the rationalization on how we came to our findings and take those into consideration.”
Hickenlooper said regardless of the Martinez case, the state is trying to hold public safety and environmental issues as “critically important.” After the Firestone home explosion last month, he ordered operators inspect every flow line in the state.
To have something like that happen, in the perceived safety of someone’s home, is unacceptable, he said.
“We’re trying to go out and map every one we can find,” he said, and conduct “a search around every single active well to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Hickenlooper said he would be happy to talk to Extraction about delaying its Broomfield applications, adding he does not know what COGCC timelines are, but that the process usually takes a few months.
Ahrens said Broomfield has been working with Extraction for more than a year, and since the company was gracious enough to let Broomfield form the task force, it only makes sense to let them finish. Members meet two or three times a week for committee and subcommittee meetings, which can run three to four hours.
“You’ve come this far, you might as well come the rest of the way,” Ahrens said. “That’s how I view Extraction.”
Hickenlooper anticipates the company will say they’ve waited long enough, but that he sees Broomfield’s point.
“We’ll see if we can find a compromise,” he said.
Other council members emphasized the hard work of the task force and how Broomfield is not stalling or “dilly dallying,” but trying to show how business-focused the city is putting forth an opportunity for operators to work in Broomfield — not throw wrenches at their plans.
Councilwoman Sharon Tessier brought up the recently wrapped-up legislative session and wondered if the conversation will continue for oil and gas bills that did not pass.
Hickenlooper said the bills “came up fast” and people didn’t fully understand them, but that he would put his weight behind a task force to look into those issues, such as setbacks.
“I dont’ know what the ultimate right answer is on that kind of setback, but I think you guys will probably come up with a better solution than we would for your community,” Hickenlooper said.
Councilman Mike Shelton said he thinks creating a study group, one that could be made of all stakeholders, is on the right track.
“It’s good to sit down and talk about lot of those issues before something new happens that we didn’t anticipate,” he said.
Hickenlooper applauded Broomfield for being the first community to successfully negotiate in a “really good faith, constructive way” with oil and gas operators.
“I’m not sure that’s happening in every county,” he said.
Jennifer Rios: 303-473-1361, riosj@broomfieldenterprise.com or Twitter.com/Jennifer_Rios
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