Hickenlooper

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Michael Bennet have asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reduce the size and scope of an oil and gas lease sale scheduled for December in the southwest corner of the state that includes greater sage grouse habitat.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday signed an executive order to address safety concerns surrounding 260 orphan wells and 360 orphan sites, a direct result of the review ordered last year following a flowline explosion that killed two people in Firestone, CO.

As expected, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed two bills supported by the oil and gas industry that, among other things, better protect mineral and royalty owners and expand the scope of state’s energy office.

Colorado regulators have published draft rules for oil and natural gas flowlines that would no longer exempt operators from pressure testing and monitoring low-pressure pipelines, as is currently required for larger diameter systems.

In the aftermath of a deadly flowline explosion in Firestone last April, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday proposed a series of regulatory and legislative changes for oil and natural gas operations in the state.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday committed the state to increased climate-related actions, agreeing to join the U.S. Climate Alliance formed in June after President Trump announced the country would withdraw from the international climate accord reached in late 2015 by nearly 200 nations.

Even though the state’s economy is leading the nation, the Colorado Energy Office is facing a budget crisis tied to a partisan political fight in the legislature over its future role.

Only a “handful” of smaller operators had yet to submit requested data regarding flowlines to the state following a mandate by the governor last month, but the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) was not ready to conclude that the industry is fully complying following a fatal explosion in April of an abandoned flowline from a well sited about 170 feet from a home.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has ordered the state not to fight a court ruling that would require public safety, health and the environment to be protected as a precondition before allowing new oil and natural gas drilling. However, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said she would defy the governor, appealing the case to the Colorado Supreme Court.