DENVER (AP) — A plan to refocus Colorado’s oil and gas regulations on health and safety passed its first milestone in the Legislature on Wednesday after 187 people testified during a 12-hour hearing.
The Senate Transportation and Energy Committee voted 4-3 to approve a measure that would require regulators to make the protection of human health and the environment their top priority. Current law makes energy production the primary goal.
The legislation also gives local governments the option of regulating the location of new wells. Existing law says only the state has that authority.
All the panel’s Democrats supported the measure and all the Republican members opposed it. Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has endorsed the measure.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Stephen Fenberg, a bill co-sponsor, said it is a common-sense approach to dealing with frequent conflicts over drilling, especially in fast-growing communities north of Denver, which overlap the rich Wattenberg oil and gas field.
Opponents say it could lead to a virtual ban on drilling in some areas and cost jobs.
Nearly 400 people signed up to testify before the Transportation and Energy Committee hearing in person or by video from a half-dozen sites around the state. By the time the hearing ended, about half spoke — 101 in favor of the changes and 86 against them.
The committee made five minor changes to the legislation.
The next stop is a hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee. Fenberg said the bill could go through six hearings before final votes in the House and Senate.
