Sign Geohazard Petition - Citizens for a Healthy Community

Tell the COGCC to protect all Coloradans from oil and gas operations located in or proposed in geologically hazardous areas or that can trigger a geological hazard such as a landslide or earthquake beyond the wellpad, not just the oil and gas assets.

Due to diverse geologic structures, rocks, soil types, topography, climatic conditions, and long standing resource extraction Colorado is fraught with geological hazards. While geologic hazards have cost citizens across the state billions of dollars in damage, and hydraulic fracturing and wastewater injection wells have been proven to induce seismicity, COGCC rules are devoid of any substantive protections against those hazards. Oil and gas activities can potentially destabilize already geologically unstable areas, and once earth movements such as landslides are triggered, no engineering solutions can stop their path of destruction. In addition, many Front Range communities experience ground subsidence due to shallow coalbed methane extraction.

Thirty of the leading geologists and geotechnical engineers in the State have identified the current COGCC process for reviewing geological hazards as inadequate. We should listen to them!

Please sign the following petition to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Your name will be added to a list of names that will be submitted to the COGCC. Thank you for your support!

Geohazard Rule Support-2

Please check the box below if you agree to the following comments. *

Support for Common Sense Geohazard Rule

Dear COGCC Commissioners,

Current and proposed oil and gas activity in geohazardous areas, and more importantly the potential for such activities to trigger a geological hazard such as a landslide, rockslide, earthquake, or subsidence threatens public health, safety, wildlife and the environment. Hydraulic fracturing and wastewater injection wells have been proven to cause ground movement and induced seismicity, which could destabilize already geologically unstable areas. Once earth movements such as landslides are triggered, no engineering solutions can stop their path of destruction. In addition, subsidence caused by nearby mines and coalbed methane extraction results in road and property damage.

Yet, the current COGCC rules and current staff draft rules to implement SB181 enacted last year, do not address off-site geohazard impacts, beyond the wellpad or oil and gas equipment, to protect the public. The current rules do not address impacts to other property owners from water rights holders to homeowners, nor does it address risks to other infrastructure such as dams, irrigation conveyance, and roads that can be triggered by oil and gas operations. It is clear that the current rules are only concerned with protecting oil and gas assets and not the public. It is therefore imperative that the new rules close this gap.

COGCC Staff, at your direction, has made geological hazard review transparent by proposing to codify its current internal practice in the draft rules by requiring operators to submit a geologic map in its location assessment permit application. Staff has also proposed to require a geologic hazard plan when a location is proposed in a geologic hazard area. However, the draft rules need to go further to meaningfully protect the public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife from these potential adverse impacts. The rules need to provide for clear standards and a decision-making review process for the information required. Thirty of the State’s leading geologists and geotechnical engineers have signed a letter stating that the current process is inadequate. We urge you to strengthen the 300 series rules to adopt a geological review process that meets the expectations of Colorado’s leading geologists and geotechnical engineers, which includes site-specific and off-site specific information.

Signed,

Name *

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Additional Comments

I am: [check all that apply]

A residential property owner/lessee

A commercial property owner/lessee

An agricultural property owner/lessee

A water rights holder

A concerned/impacted citizen

Signature. Please sign using the cursor below to write your name. This digital signature is legally binding and confirms your agreement with the comment letter above. Thank you. *

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TELL COGCC THAT DRAFT GEOLOGICAL HAZARD REVIEW RULE NEEDS TO GO FURTHER

Tell the COGCC to protect all Coloradans from oil and gas operations located in or proposed in geologically hazardous areas or that can trigger a geological hazard such as a landslide or earthquake beyond the wellpad, not just the oil and gas assets.

Thirty of the leading geologists and geotechnical engineers in the State have identified the current COGCC process for reviewing geological hazards as inadequate. We should listen to them!

Please sign the following petition to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Your name will be added to a list of names that will be submitted to the COGCC. Thank you for your support!

SUBSCRIBE

TELL COGCC THAT DRAFT GEOLOGICAL HAZARD REVIEW RULE NEEDS TO GO FURTHER

Tell the COGCC to protect all Coloradans from oil and gas operations located in or proposed in geologically hazardous areas or that can trigger a geological hazard such as a landslide or earthquake beyond the wellpad, not just the oil and gas assets.

Thirty of the leading geologists and geotechnical engineers in the State have identified the current COGCC process for reviewing geological hazards as inadequate. We should listen to them!

Please sign the following petition to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Your name will be added to a list of names that will be submitted to the COGCC. Thank you for your support!

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