Colorado state government has recently started revising its oil and gas regulations under a new law that targets public safety instead of generating energy. However, critics and industry defenders are already checking the limitations on the legislation.
Weld County-based officials supporting the new oil and gas regulations stated that with the implementation of the new law in the county, there would be complete control over the exact location of the new oil-extracting sites in unincorporated regions. This could confront the state’s attempts to stringent the regulations.
In the neighboring region of Weld County, Longmont city, environmentalists are attempting to employ the regulation in order to reinstate a ban on hydraulic fracturing within the city premises. In simple words, if the law was implemented, the drilling is prohibited in the region.
Jared Polis—Governor of Colorado—passed the law by signing the bill on April 16, 2019. Apart from swapping the state’s top priority from energy production to public health, the law hands over new authorities to counties and cities and counties to govern the drilling sites.
Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Commissioner at Weld County, raised voice against the new bill. However, she revoked the campaign after the bill was passed.
Likewise, the Government of Canada proposed Impact Assessment Act—specifying “the no-more-pipelines bill” for natural gas and oil industries—has come into effect including new energy infrastructure. Before executing, federal regulators thoroughly reviewed the act and observed that its implementation could benefit native people, women, environment, health, water, air, land, and wildlife.
With the act implementation, Canada’s federal regulatory apparatus is also overhauled along with the reorganization and renaming of NEB (The National Energy Board) (NEB) into CER (the Canadian Energy Regulator). In addition, the CEAA (Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency) would expand into Canadian Impact Assessment Agency and take the authority of the new structural development.
