La Plata County held a public workshop Thursday to review sections 14 through 19 of the proposed revisions to chapter 90 of the land-use code.
The workshops are intended to provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about the revisions and offer feedback to the staff. The county will host another workshop on Wednesday, and the Board of County Commissioners will receive testimony on Oct. 17 and Nov. 4.
Chapter 90 was intentionally omitted from the 2020 revision of the La Plata County land-use code because the state had begun revising its own rules with respect to oil and gas development. The county’s revisions of chapter 90 are intended to align with the state’s rules. The county must meet the state’s minimum regulatory standards or exceed them.
Thursday’s workshop was attended primarily by representatives of the gas and oil industry. Discussion was focused primarily on word-level points of contention relating to the duty of gas and oil companies to provide the county and state governments with assurances of their financial ability to adequately close and clean up drilling sites.
However, county commissioners will hear testimony Nov. 4 on setback policy questions, a topic that has already been the source of multiple public comments.
The current draft proposes that wells and compressors must be located a minimum of 500 feet from dwellings, high-occupancy buildings, playgrounds and other community spaces. Four identical letters signed by community members but written by the San Juan Citizens Alliance voiced concern that 500 feet was not an adequate minimum setback, and instead requested the minimum be set at 2,000 feet to protect public health.
Christy Kost, county natural resources planner, said the county’s regulations are drafted to either meet the state’s or, in cases where the county’s existing regulations already exceeded state standards, maintain that same level of restriction. While the state allows setbacks as small as 250 feet in some cases, the county will stick with the existing minimum of 500 feet.
While the complexity of the code may scare off lay members of the public, the county has made efforts to reach out to the environmental community to ensure that the BoCC hears their input.
“It’s a fairly technical piece of regulation,” said Gary Skiba, wildlife program manager at the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “I think the way the public could get involved is to say ‘Hey, we have a special environment here in La Plata County. The county has been a leader in the development of local regulation of the oil and gas industry and we think you should take that to heart and ask for the best protections you feel you can get and not just defer to the state if there is an opportunity to be more restrictive to protect our special environment here.’”
The upcoming public workshop on Wednesday will cover sections 90-4 through 90-9, which relate to the submission requirements for proposals to open and close wells. Comments on setback policy questions may not exceed 10 pages and are due by 5 p.m. Oct. 24 and can be submitted online or in person at 1101 East Second Ave. in Durango.
rschafir@durangoherald
