Oil & gas industry being a good neighbor: getting a license to operate through proactive community engagement

Abstract

In the DJ Basin in Colorado, there has been a collision of industry activities and community development due to the "mini-boom" of O&G development, stemming from hydraulic fracking of the Niobrara Formation and the growing population along the Front Range. This led to a decrease in public support for industry permits starting around 2013 and an increase in operational notification requirements (Turkewitz 2018 & MacKenzie 2016). By 2013, the Front Range communities were pushing for more local control and enacting local bans of operations on O&G development to address distributive injustice and differing vulnerabilities (Turkewitz 2018 & McKenzie). 2019 saw the passage of SB-181 which made a big difference in the permitting process for O&G to emphasize public health, safety, and welfare. Over the next two-year period, the state experienced a significant restructuring of its O&G regulations and regulatory bodies (Jaffe 2022).