200 people show up to testify on bill that would ban oil & gas drilling in Colorado by 2030

Hundreds of people packed a hearing at the State Capitol on Thursday for a bill that would phase out the oil and gas industry in Colorado.

"In order to meet our clean energy goals, we cannot keep drilling forever," State Sen. Sonya Jacquez Lewis (D) told the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Jacquez Lewis and State Sen. Kevin Prioloa (D) are sponsors of the bill that would ban new oil and gas permits in Colorado by 2030.

Heidi Leathwood with nonprofit 350 Colorado said the bill is critical to addressing climate change.

"The oil and gas industry regards the proposal to phase out new oil and gas permits as an existential threat," Leathwood said. "It's ironic that they face a threat of their own making. They created the real existential threat to life as we know it on this planet."

Patricia Garcia Nelson with Green Latinos Colorado also testified in support of the measure, saying the oil well behind her son's school had three leaks just last week.

"To not support a transition away from fossil fuels is not only wrong its negligible," Garcia Nelson said. 

But Julie Murphy disagrees. She is the director of the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission in the Department of Natural Resources.

Murphy says the bill would do more harm than good. "Reducing production in Colorado likely would increase Colorado's emissions due to importing oil and gas from neighboring states," she said. 

These are states where, she says, regulations aren't nearly as stringent.

Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, says Colorado is the last place to ban production.

"We are the only sector that's meeting our greenhouse gas goals," Haley said. "In fact, we're exceeding our greenhouse gas goals. Governor Polis even indicated a couple months ago that we're making up for lagging sectors."

The bill doesn't stop at a ban. It also goes after prior owners of abandoned wells -- requiring them to pay for clean up if the current owner skips town. Opponents say -- not only is that illegal -- the state constitution prohibits retrospective laws, saying it's unnecessary. The federal government has earmarked $124 million to clean up abandoned wells in Colorado on top of the $10 million the industry pays each year for cleanup.

Mineral rights owners also warned the bill is unconstitutional because it prevents them from accessing their property.

If the bill passes, state fiscal analysts say it will cost state government alone $780 million over the next 10 years.

"It will impact every school district. It will impact our budgets in ways I don't think you two understand," State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer 9R) warned the bill sponsors.

Jacquez Lewis doesn't buy it. "This is a big ol' guessing game on this fiscal note," she said. She warned the cost of inaction will be far greater. 

"Oil and gas extraction is harmful both to us and the environment," Jacquez Lewis said. " We can take the first step here today to address this public health risk."

Some 200 people signed up to testify on the bill that is one of about a dozen oil and gas measures this session. Others would ban drilling during summer months when ozone is high, increasing fines for violations from $300 a day to $52,000 a day.

In addition to legislation, nearly a dozen ballot measures have also been filed by both opponents and proponents of the industry.