Friday, April 14, 2017

Colorado lawmakers kill bill that would have prevented oil and gas activity near schools

A Colorado Senate committee shot down a bill "that would prevent oil and gas producers from drilling wells within 1,000 feet of school property lines," Hayley Sanchez reports for The Denver Post.

Supporters of the bill said current regulations, which measure "the setback from a school building rather than the property line," mean "an oil and gas production facility could potentially create an active site in a school’s baseball field or playground area as long as the well is 1,000 feet away from the school’s building," Sanchez writes.

The bill, which passed the Democratic-controlled House, was not expected to make it through the Republican-controlled Senate, Sanchez writes. Opponents of the bill say "current law is working well and has not presented any pitfalls thus far." Jill Fulcher, an attorney who represents companies going before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, told Sanchez, “No company has actually asked to go within 1,000 feet of a public school and it would be very difficult to try and do so."

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