By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun
Colorado Democratic senators say they will introduce a bill banning new oil and gas drilling in Colorado by 2030 and demanding companies pay more to seal up old wells, bringing into the Capitol a fight that has previously played out in statewide ballot petitions and fall elections.
Environmental groups have been moving to get a similar ban on the November 2024 ballot, but are strongly backing the legislative effort by Sens. Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Boulder County and Kevin Priola of Henderson. They say the ban on new drilling would be phased in to first protect minority and lower-income residents in disproportionately impacted communities, before becoming complete in 2030.
The ban would allow for continued pumping from existing wells, but would also phase out modifications to those thousands of wells through redrilling or deepening. Unused drilling permits would expire. Previous operators of orphaned wells would have to pay more to hasten state cleanup efforts.
“Many Coloradans agree with us that we can’t keep drilling forever,” Jaquez Lewis said, in an email Sunday.