The Broomfield City Council is expected to vote on whether or not to adopt an ordinance amending sections of the municipal code regarding oil and gas regulations at its Tuesday council meeting.
In general, the draft regulations ensure that oil and gas facilities are designed, modified, commissioned, constructed, equipped, operated, maintained, suspended and abandoned in a manner that prioritizes the protection of human health, safety, and welfare, according to the city memo. The draft regulations also contain provisions related to the location of proposed oil and gas well sites, including a requirement that operators conduct an alternative site analysis.
Residents will be able to deliver comments during the public meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. at the George DiCiero City and County Building, 1 Descombes Drive.
In previous meetings, residents have turned out in force to speak out against adopting an ordinance that would amend the municipal code, asking for more time to strengthen the regulations and voicing disapproval of Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc.'s practices.
In August 2017, Broomfield City Council adopted the oil and gas chapter to the Comprehensive Plan — a chapter that had been missing from a previously-updated version of the Comprehensive Plan.
It set forth policies and actions steps in 17 areas, including: air quality, soil and groundwater, environmental assessment, historical and cultural resources, oil and gas facility siting, application process and requirements, facilities, pipelines, noise, traffic, visual screening, property values, emergency response, risk management plans, insurance and bonding, setbacks and enforcement.
Members of the committee that worked for months to craft the oil and gas chapter to the Comprehensive Plan, urged Broomfield officials to continue to work with the state, other local governments, and citizens to change laws and regulations regarding oil and gas development, according to a city memo.
Broomfield officials started that process in promoting changes to the state flowline rules for additional testing and continued with support and testimony before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in favor of state law that would require more reporting of well pad incidents by operators. Now, staff is proposing updated state oil and gas regulations consistent with the Comprehensive Plan chapter adopted by Broomfield.
