For Immediate Release Tuesday, December 27, 2005
WATER COMMISSION TO RECONSIDER DRILLING DISCHARGE REGULATIONS
Contact: Cindy Parmenter
Director of Communications
(303) 692-2013 - Office
(303) 891-8382 - Pager
DENVER - The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission has scheduled a
public rulemaking hearing for 10 a.m. on Monday, January 9, to consider
potential revisions to the Colorado Discharge Permit System Regulations
relating to stormwater runoff from petroleum drilling activities throughout
the state.
The public hearing will be held in the Sabin Room at the Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, in Denver.
At the hearing, the commission will reconsider its April 2005 decision,
requiring that stormwater management plans be submitted and stormwater
discharge permits be obtained for all drilling sites in the state that
disturb more than one acre of land. At the January 9 meeting, the commission
also will reconsider the regulation of stormwater runoff from such sites
that are five acres or larger. This portion of the regulation has been in
place since 1992.
Paul Frohardt, the commission administrator, said that the commission is
reconsidering these regulations as a result of the recent passage of the
federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, which eliminated any federal stormwater
control and management requirements for oil and gas drilling sites in the
United States.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Water Quality
Control Division, as staff to the commission, is proposing some revisions to
the current regulations while leaving stormwater discharge permit
requirements in effect for all activities that disturb at least one acre of
land.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association
are proposing that the stormwater discharge permit regulations be eliminated
and that state oversight of such drilling activities be conducted by the
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which is based at the Colorado
Department of Natural Resources.
Any change to the current regulations is being opposed by a large number of
local governments and local government organizations from Colorado’s Western
Slope.
Parties which have expressed an intent in formally participating in this
hearing include the: Colorado Oil and Gas Association; the Colorado
Petroleum Association; Noble Energy, the West Slope Water Network; Gunnison
County; San Miguel County; Northwest Colorado Council of Governments; the
City of Grand Junction; and the Colorado River Water Conservation District.
Copies of the proposal, as well as written comments and other documents
related to this rulemaking,are available on the
commission’s Web site or from the Commission Office at (303) 692-3463.
Interested persons are encouraged to submit written comments to the
commission at or prior to the hearing, or to provide oral comments at the
hearing. To date, the commission has received over 2,200 public comment
letters regarding this hearing.
Any additional written comments should be submitted to Paul Frohardt,
Administrator, Colorado Water Quality Commission, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive
South, Denver, CO 80246. Frohardt also can be reached at (303) 692-3468.
|
