Minutes of the Oil and Gas Committee Meeting

April 19, 2012

City Hall, 107 N. Nevada, Pikes Peak Conference Room

Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Attending

Councilmember Val Snider, Chair

Councilmember Angela Dougan – arrived 9:55, departed 11:00

Chris Melcher, City Attorney – departed 9:15

Dick Anderwald, LGD (Local Government Designee) – arrived 9:10

Randy Case, O&G Committee Member

Michael Martin, O&G Committee Member

Jan Handke, O&G Committee Member

Chris Mendrop, O&G Committee Member

Ed McCord, O&G Committee Member

John Maynard – Committee Member – departed 9:40

Absent:

Councilmember Brandy Williams, Vice Chair

Steve Cox – Mayor’s Office

Stephen Harris, O&G Committee Member

____________________________________________________________________

Councilmember and Committee Chair Val Snider opened the meeting at 8:30 a.m.

Introductions

Introductions were made by all present.

Briefing by Chris Melcher

Chris thanked the Committee for its service and again reminded the Committee that it was set up to give recommendations to City Council on potential oil and gas regulation.  Council asked the Committee to do 3 things:

  Open Discussion

1. Become educated
2. Gather public input
3. Provide recommendations back to Council on potential areas of regulation

Recommendations for potential oil and gas regulation include:

1. Adherence to the pre-application/site plan process including public notification
2. Impact fees (i.e. road degradation)
3. Water quality compliance including gathering established water databases for City use - City report to Council annually on the effectiveness of permitting -   require baseline water testing and regular monitoring.
4. Variability of setbacks
5. Operations conflict language
6. Define High/Low Density
7. Conditions from current operator permit – incorporate into code?

 Areas addressed in current City regulations:

1. Transportation, traffic
2. Visual impacts
3. Emergency response
4. Reclamation
5. Noise (enforcement)
6. Financial assurances

Areas addressed in current State regulations:

1. Water disposal
2. Injection wells
3. Air quality
4. Wildlife

The Committee will continue to work on draft *options* for areas of regulation, not actual regulations, which is the task of the City Attorney and City Planning offices. 

Break

Open Discussion

The Town Hall Meeting has been tentatively re-scheduled to May 17, 2012, 6-8 p.m. in room 102 of the City Administration Building (CAB).  

Committee Chair Val Snider adjourned the meeting at 11:45 a.m. 

Next Meeting: April 26, 2012, 8:30-11:30, in the Pikes Peak Room of Colorado Springs City Hall, at 107 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903