By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance
Colorado regulators are debating an “enormous” set of regulations that will require consideration of the cumulative impacts of any new or expanded oil-and-gas project on air, water and other natural resources before state officials can grant operating permits.
The rules are the product of several laws passed since 2019 aiming to protect communities already dealing with significant emissions by requiring the state to consider permits in the context of existing pollution rather than focus only on the impacts of the new projects. The most recent bill on the subject, approved this year, gave the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission a specific definition of “cumulative impacts” around which it must build the new regulations.
However, even with the definition — essentially, the effects on public health and environment caused by impacts of new and expanded operations when added to the impacts of other “past, present or reasonably foreseeable future development” in the area — there is major disagreement on the specifics.