Colorado Ballot Initiative #97
2500’ Setback Requirement for Oil and Gas Development GIS-Based Impact Assessment July 2, 2018 Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission
• An estimated 54% of Colorado’s total land surface would be unavailable for new oil and gas development by adopting the buffer zone setbacks and federal land exemption proposed by initiative #97. Of the non-federal land in Colorado, 85% would be inaccessible using these same criteria. • 78% of Weld County surface land (85% of non-federal land) would be off-limits to new oil and gas development. In Colorado’s top five oil and gas producing counties combined, 61% of the surface acreage (94% of non-federal land) would be unavailable. • “Vulnerable areas” buffers, which initiative #97 defines to include a range of surface hydrologic features, would have a significantly larger impact than “occupied structure” buffers on making surface lands inaccessible to new oil and gas activity.
PERMANENT SPORTS FIELDS, AMPHITHEATERS, PUBLIC PARKS, PUBLIC OPEN SPACE, PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY DRINKING WATER SOURCES, IRRIGATION CANALS, RESERVOIRS, LAKES, RIVERS, PERENNIAL OR INTERMITTENT STREAMS, AND CREEKS, AND ANY ADDITIONAL VULNERABLE AREAS DESIGNATED BY THE STATE OR A LOCAL GOVERNMENT. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO HEREBY ESTABLISH THAT ALL NEW OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT NOT ON FEDERAL LAND MUST BE LOCATED AT LEAST TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED FEET FROM AN OCCUPIED STRUCTURE OR VULNERABLE AREA. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE REENTRY OF AN OIL OR GAS WELL PREVIOUSLY PLUGGED OR ABANDONED IS CONSIDERED NEW OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT. Note that the 2018 initiative #97 exempts “federal land” from the 2500-foot setback requirement. Other differences from the 2016 initiative include defining “vulnerable areas” (roughly equivalent to “area of special concern”) to include reservoirs but not riparian areas; and proposing to allow state or local governments the right to designate “vulnerable areas” independently. This report does not directly analyze the extent to which mineral development would be impacted by the decrease in surface acreage available for new oil and gas development
Colorado ballot initiative #97, received by the Colorado Secretary of State in January 2018, is currently in the signature-collecting phase (through August 6, 2018) for inclusion on the November ballot. Similar to initiative #78 proposed in 2016, initiative #97 would designate 2500-foot buffer zones around “occupied structure” and “vulnerable areas” (see Appendix for full text). Initiative #97 proposes changing the Colorado Revised Statutes, as opposed to the 2016 initiative that aimed to modify the state constitution. At the request of COGCC commissioners, the potential impact of initiative #97 on surface lands available for oil and gas development has been prepared. There are subtle, yet significant, differences in the language of the proposed 2018 initiative versus the 2016 version. This analysis addresses those changes and incorporates new GIS information building upon a study published by the COGCC in 2016 (methods and technical details of that study are available here).
Initiative #97 states:
“OCCUPIED STRUCTURE” MEANS ANY BUILDING OR STRUCTURE THAT REQUIRES A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY OR BUILDING OR STRUCTURE INTENDED FOR HUMAN OCCUPANCY, INCLUDING HOMES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.
“VULNERABLE AREAS” MEANS PLAYGROUNDS,
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N a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n o f D i v i s i o n O r d e r A n a l y s t s
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