Some communities are looking for ways to further regulate drilling as oil and gas interests push to ramp up drilling operations, especially when they’re close to housing developments and schools.
A fatal house explosion in Firestone caused by a leaking abandoned gas line helped galvanize anti-fracking activists in 2017. A series of moratoria on accepting new applications for oil and gas operations in unincorporated parts of Boulder County had been in place since 2012. The last ended in 2017. However, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down moratoria in Fort Collins and Longmont in 2016.
Colorado has more than 50,000 active oil and gas wells, as well as 36,500 inactive wells, with thousands of miles of pipelines, according to the Denver Post. State regulators historically relied on companies to self-report problems. In 2016, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission deployed three inspectors statewide to monitor wells and pipelines.
Advocates and foes of fracking are likely to continue to clash in local government meetings, at the ballot box, in courts and on the streets.
