What the Disappointing Conclusion to Colorado’s Cumulative Impacts Rulemaking Means for Aurora

Newly drafted Energy & Carbon Management Commission rules protect industry, not communities.

The Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) recently concluded its long-awaited cumulative impacts rulemaking hearings. While the final draft of the rules has not yet been released to the public, Save The Aurora Reservoir (STAR) was a party to the hearings and can therefore share some early insights.

We’re sorry to report that, despite many powerful arguments and persuasive evidence for more regulatory protections, the ECMC decided to adopt a version of the rules that was most favorable to the industry. “While some progress was seen in the rules, such as requirements for baseline testing, in many situations the rules are a step backward,” said Randy Willard, STAR Program Director. “STAR will continue to monitor the evolution of rules and regulations applicable to fracking in Aurora, including Arapahoe County’s proposed oil and gas industry regulatory amendments.”

Before diving deeper into the outcomes, let’s go over a few key understandings.

What are “cumulative impacts”?

The term cumulative impacts refers to the total sum of measurable effects that oil and gas operations have on humans, animals, air, water, and communities. Colorado is one of the only states to require quantitative analysis of cumulative impacts as part of the permitting process for oil and gas projects. Unfortunately, the rules determined by the ECMC have a very limited definition of “cumulative impacts” that is, arguably, not at all comprehensive. Moreover, the rules leave measurement and analysis of the impacts up to the operator, who has a financial incentive to understate adverse effects.

What spurred the recent ECMC cumulative impacts rulemaking hearings?

As part of legislation passed by the Colorado State Senate in 2019 (SB 19-181), the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was mandated to change its name and mission, and to account for cumulative impacts when reviewing permitting applications. The intent of the law, per state legislators, was to locally regulate the placement of oil and gas operations and minimize adverse impacts to public health, safety, welfare, and the environment.

However, as of summer 2024, there was still no established definition of cumulative impacts that the commissioners could look to when evaluating the applications submitted by oil and gas operators. This allowed operators to mostly lean on what they call “best management practices,” which represent the industry’s standard operating procedures and are not governed by any regulations. This is something we saw first-hand during the Lowry Ranch Cumulative Area Plan (CAP) hearing.

In June 2024, the ECMC publicly shared a draft of proposed rules that would close some of these concerning gaps. Unfortunately, a revised draft shared in August, as well as the one approved in October, was significantly weaker. The discrepancy between the more-protective early version and the second version, which appeared to be heavily influenced by industry lobbyists, was noted in an open letter to the ECMC signed by more than 20 Colorado legislators.

What role did Save The Aurora Reservoir play in the rulemaking process?

STAR, along with other nonprofit organizations, was granted the opportunity to submit arguments as an affected party to the proceedings. We are grateful to have been represented by the Getches-Green Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Some of the provisions that STAR argued should be included in the final rules:

A requirement to consider traffic impacts, including emissions from trucks used to transport fresh water, crude oil, gas tanks, and produced water to and from the site.
Expanded survey requirements that would consider impacts beyond a one-mile radius.
Retroactive reporting on the actual cumulative impacts of previously approved operations, as a way of gauging the accuracy of the analyses performed by operators and increasing transparency.
Explicitly giving the ECMC the power to deny applications that they deem would be too harmful to the environment and local community.

Unfortunately, none of these provisions were written into the final rules.

How do the final rules apply to the Lowry Ranch area?

Because the Lowry Ranch CAP was considered and approved prior to the establishment of cumulative impacts rules, no firm definition of cumulative impacts was applied to that decision. The new rules will apply to all individual oil and gas development plans (OGDP) submitted to the ECMC on or after December 15, 2024. STAR intends to actively participate in the state and county processes for all well applications within the Lowry Ranch CAP boundaries. We will not hesitate to contest any applications within Arapahoe County as part of our continued mission to safeguard the Aurora Reservoir and its surrounding communities from the true cumulative impacts of industrial development.

We are not alone in the belief that our state and local governments must place the welfare of their constituents above all else when considering proposals for residential fracking projects. For more information, we recommend the following articles from news outlets and other concerned non-profit organizations.