Several legislators criticized proposed new rules of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, saying they give too much power to the Division of Wildlife.
And the fight is likely to continue. Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, scheduled another hearing of his agriculture committee for April so legislators can examine the draft rules, which won't be published until March 31.
The commission's chairman, Harris Sherman, urged legislators to keep calm.
"There's an enormous amount of speculation about what these regulations may or may not say," said Sherman, who is also director of the state Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the DOW.
In the end, the oil and gas commission, not the DOW, will have the final say over drilling permits, Sherman said.
Gas companies say the agency is proposing a system that blocks drilling more than nine months a year in some places.
But COGCC Director Dave Neslin said only three wells in the whole state would have fallen under the nine-month drilling restriction last year. Half of the state's drilling permits would have no timing restrictions at all, Neslin said.
But several Republicans were not satisfied with the explanation. The proposed rules amount to "uber-regulatory authority" for the DOW, said Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita.
Rep. Cory Gardner and Sen. Greg Brophy, both Eastern Plains Republicans, harshly criticized the new rules, which the Legislature set in motion last year in two bills that remade the COGCC.
Gardner said the new rules will push gas companies out of Colorado. He said he knows of one that has already left, although he didn't name it.
Sherman pledged the rules would strike the right balance among wildlife, health and economics.
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"I do not believe these rules and regulations are going to drive the industry out of the state of Colorado. I absolutely don't," Sherman said.
Not all the legislators at Wednesday's hearing were critical of the proposed rules.
"I think the people of the state of Colorado have at a minimum an expectation that you will keep their air, their water and their homes safe," Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, told Neslin.
La Plata County is "pretty comfortable" with the process so far, County Commissioner Wally White said in a telephone interview. He wants to make sure the county retains the local control it has gained over years of working with the gas industry.
White also discounted the likelihood of the gas industry leaving Colorado.
"It's ludicrous. Nobody in their right mind would believe industry is going to give up a billion-dollar industry over some little rules that protect surface owners," White said.
The debate is likely to continue throughout the spring. Isgar plans to introduce a bill extending the deadline to adopt the rules to mid-July. As part of that, he expects legislators to debate a delay in the rules until the Legislature meets again in January 2009. Lawmakers also could delay just parts of the proposed rules, which also cover human health and landowner rights.
"If we're hung up on wildlife, maybe that needs to wait," Isgar said.
