State oil and gas regs rolled back

From this mornings Rocky Mountain News,

Gov. Bill Ritter's administration on Wednesday watered down proposed rules for oil and gas drilling in Colorado in the wake of an aggressive campaign by the industry that said the proposals would cost thousands of jobs.

The Oil and Gas Commission prefers to call the new proposals "nuanced" as opposed to "watered-down." Regardless the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, which is the industry trade group that is tradionally the most beligerent and the most right-wing in ideology, is none too pleased. When one reads their specific complaints it becomes clear that COGA will never be pleased with any regulations that don't allow them free reign over Colorado's natural resources.

For instance, the commission clarified that companies that consult with the Colorado Division of Wildlife or develop a comprehensive drilling plan would not be subject to timing restrictions until January 2010.

Currently, the restrictions prohibit drilling during certain times of the year, say, from Jan. 1 through March 31 and in certain areas west of Interstate 25 to protect winter concentration areas of pronghorns. Shorter time restrictions apply to other species, such as May 15 through June 15 for elk production areas.

Collins criticized the clarification, saying even if companies consult with the Division of Wildlife, it was not guaranteed that they would receive waivers.

I'm curious as to exactly what part of the word "regulation" is so confusing to the folks over at COGA? Of course there are no guarantees. The point of the regulation is to protect critical wildlife habitat at specific times of the year. If drilling would endanger certain species or habitat it's just common sense that those activities would be temporarily restricted.

Now when you remember that under the Owens administration the state's "regulators" were all handpicked members of the oil and gas industry it's easy to understand why these very modest regulations are so outrageous to COGA. They are used to literally writing the rules themselves and never having to be accountable to anyone except their industry friends. Well folks, it's a new day in Colorado and you're no longer going to be able to exploit our natural resources with impunity.