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With increasing restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) will postpone public hearings on the implementation of the landmark oil and gas reform legislation passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Jared Polis last year.
Jeff Robbins, the director of the COGCC said of the decision, "These rule-makings are very important. They’re very complex. They have stakeholders that have vastly different perspectives about the right place to land with regards to issues around the rule-makings." As part of the law's requirements, state agencies are in the process of writing new rules related to air quality, underground oil and gas lines, the structural integrity of wells, and public involvement on proposed oil and gas development.
Jeremy Nichols, the climate change energy program director with WildEarth Guardians expressed misgiving about the contradictory nature of suspending a rule-making process while continuing to lease oil and gas, saying, "They want to help us through this crisis, but they’re still approving (drilling) permits. Let’s not keep the permit machine going even as they delay rule-making on public health safeguards for Colorado." The new law requires a policy shift from emphasizing the development of oil and gas to balancing that objective with other priorities, including public health, safety and the environment.
Podcast: Environmental rollbacks in the time of coronavirus, and why NEPA matters
In the latest episode of the Center for Western Priorities' "Go West, Young Podcast," we discuss how the Trump administration is using the Coronavirus pandemic as cover for its environmental rollbacks; then former White House official Christy Goldfuss explains why the National Environmental Policy Act is so important.
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Removing that obligation [to assess criminal penalties against companies for unintentional bird deaths], if it stands, over the next several decades will result in billions of birds being casualties. It will be catastrophic.”
