By Joe Mueller | The Center Square
Colorado can improve its procedures, public input, timelines and coordination of state, federal and local governments to improve the environmental permitting process, according to a report.
The state made significant progress in reforming regulatory processes in the past decade but improvements need to be made, according to James Broughel, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of the report, “Distilling Efficiency; Colorado’s quest to refine its permitting process.”
“The state appears to be moving in the wrong direction with recent changes targeting the oil and gas industry, which have created a more burdensome permitting environment,” according to the report. “Enacting targeted legislative changes, institutionalizing interagency coordination through memorandums of understanding, limiting the scope of environmental justice reviews, reestablishing joint state-federal permitting teams, expanding the use of Lean process improvement and comprehensively mapping current requirements could all help ensure Colorado’s permitting system is efficient and protective of public health and the environment.”