From the Greeley Tribune
Weld County commissioners on Tuesday hosted the first of several public meetings that could change the way the county regulates oil and gas.
Weld County plans to host a series of working group meetings to address potential changes to oil and gas regulations in the county. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled.
The meetings have been promised for more than a year and a half, since a small working group helped commissioners develop standards and definitions related to oil and gas pipelines.
The ensuing months have included a high-profile, deadly home explosion in Firestone, the result of a gas leak from a flow line, and led to a packed events center room at the Weld County Administration Building, 1150 O St.
Members of local environmental group Weld Air and Water called for safety as the No. 1 priority, but the newly formed and larger working group was tasked mainly with reviewing definitions that could change how and when oil and gas companies interact with Weld County.
The three most important issues at Tuesday’s meeting centered on pipeline size, hoop stress and produced water pipelines.
Here’s a closer look:
» Pipeline size — Currently, oil and gas companies must seek a permit from the county to construct pipelines — only if those pipelines are larger than 12 or 13 inches, depending on the product. If the pipeline is smaller, the county doesn’t get involved. Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer accused oil and gas companies of constructing two 8-inch pipelines to avoid county regulations, something industry representatives said would be an illogical waste of money. It’s more likely, they said, the different pipelines are for different products, such as gas, liquid and produced water.
» Hoop stress — Weld County also doesn’t regulate pipelines with hoop stress lower than 20 percent. Hoop stress is calculated using pressure, size and thickness of the pipe, and materials used in the pipe. Pipelines below that threshold don’t ever come before commissioners, and the county has no way to check that. “We take their word for it,” Kirkmeyer said.
» Produced water — Weld County doesn’t permit produced water pipelines. Produced water is the water produced as a byproduct along with oil and gas, and it’s typically taken off-site via pipelines. Often, it’s re-injected back into the earth through injection wells.
The new working group — a group of about 40 farmers, landowners and industry representatives — is tasked with coming up with answers. Namely, they will have to answer whether any of those regulations need to change.
To answer those questions, working group members will have to speak. Just five of the working group members talked Tuesday, drowned out by public comment, which covered everything from setbacks to mapping to safety concerns.
“I’m hoping to get more input next time,” said Commissioner Chairwoman Julie Cozad. “In a big group like this, I think it’s very difficult. We want to make sure we’re hearing from the public, but it’s not disrupting the work.”
Future meetings likely will feature public comment only at the end of meetings and allow more time for dialogue between working group members, Cozad said afterward.
Still, county officials put out some information in an attempt to address resident concerns. Staff worked with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to identify more than 200,000 flow lines in Weld County, the majority of which are clustered around the southwest part of the county.
Cozad said Weld County government may include that on its GIS mapping system to allow the public to search for flow lines whenever they want.
