facilities or hydraulic fracturing operations. This report also does not attempt to quantify economic impacts resulting from the reduction of available surface acreage for new oil and gas development facilities or hydraulic fracturing operations. DATA & ANALYSIS The methodology and data sources for this study remain nearly identical to those used for the COGCC 2016 report titled 2500’ Mandatory Setback from Oil and Gas Development (available on the COGCC website at http://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/library/Technical/ Miscellaneous/Init_78_Proposed_2500ft_Setback_ Assessment_Report_20160527.pdf ). • Excluding federal surface land as identified via US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) GIS data (https:// navigator.blm.gov/data?keyword=d8420fd21cd3f159). • Using the most recent USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) information. Updating existing Colorado address point data and incorporating new address point data for counties that were not available in 2016. • Removing USFWS National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) GIS data from the analysis as riparian areas are not explicitly mentioned in the initiative #97 language. 1 As was the case in 2016, there are limitations and assumptions associated with using address point data to represent occupied structures, and no aggregated GIS data was available for public and community drinking water sources, playgrounds, permanent sports fields, amphitheaters, public parks, and public open spaces. Additionally, address point data was not available for the following counties: Baca, Cheyenne, Crowley, Jackson, Kiowa, Morgan, Phillips, Prowers, Otero, Washington, and Yuma. Because of data access restrictions, address point data for the following counties is from 2016 or prior: Fremont, Las Animas, Lake, Lincoln, Logan, and Moffat. RESULTS Geographic Information System (GIS) calculations show the proposed 2500-foot buffers of initiative #97 could preclude oil and gas development on more than 54% of the total land surface area of Colorado (Table 1). If considering only non-federal land, 85% of the land Changes made for this study include:
surface would be unavailable. As was the case in 2016, the proposed buffers for “vulnerable areas” (that includes lakes, rivers, perennial or intermittent streams, and creeks) would be the most impactful. The proposed federal land exemption, which in Colorado would be an estimated 36% of the state’s total surface area, does keep land available for oil and gas development in western Colorado, but has little impact on lands east of the Rockies including in Weld County. For Weld, an estimated 78% of surface land (85% of non-federal land) would be inaccessible to development with proposed buffers in effect. Maps prepared for this report show the potential areal impact of proposed buffers statewide (Figures 1 – 3). The GIS datasets used to generate these maps (available on the COGCC website at http://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/data/ downloads/ gis/2018_Init_97_2500ft_Buffer_Zones.zip) allow for more localized analysis. ______________________ 1 Note that if local and/or state governments were to designate all wetlands as “vulnerable areas” in addition to what initiative #97 already proposes, an estimated 495,000 acres (<1% of the state’s total land, and primarily located in the San Luis Valley region) could also be placed off-limits to oil and gas development.
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G r o w t h T h r o u g h E d u c a t i o n - J u l y / A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8
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