Project Overview
Oil and gas development activities (including hydraulic fracturing, “fracking”) along the Front Range, and in Boulder County and nearby counties, has increased significantly in recent years. These activities can pose dangers and risks including air and water (surface and groundwater) pollution, risks to human health, and ecosystem damage. The City of Boulder and Boulder County have for decades worked together to protect their residents and the valuable and fragile ecosystems of the Boulder Valley. Among those efforts is the City of Boulder’s acquisition and management of over 45,000 acres of open space purchased using public funds.
Colorado Senate Bill 19-181 was approved in 2019 and gives local governments more discretion in regulating oil and gas development to protect the public health and welfare.
Among the tools that should be considered for creation or revision are:
- Regulations administered by the Open Space Board of Trustees regarding oil and gas activities on Open Space land;
- Portions of the Boulder Revised Code, as part of the Use Review process, that govern oil and gas activities with the city;
- Regulations (currently there are none) pertaining to oil and gas activities on city park land;
- Development of a Watershed Protection District to protect the city’s watershed and city utility owned land;
- Intergovernmental agreements between the city and Boulder County and/or other counties in support of regulating oil and gas activities on City-owned land; and
- Other tools as identified by this process.
Why?
A series of events and state and county regulatory changes have prompted the need to reconsider and revise as necessary Boulder’s regulations regarding mining operations, principally oil and gas operations in both the city and the county as they may impact city-owned Open Space, city-owned parklands and planning-reserve land located in the county.