EDITORIAL: New oil drilling regs will only work with the local touch

In the world of creating legislation, where one size must fit all, finding a comfortable way for everyone, everywhere in the state to live with the oil-and-gas drilling industry has become too tall an order.

State oil and gas regulators last week released new, draft rules for how close an oil well can be to buildings, what oil companies must do to mitigate the production process, and what oil companies must do to address a long list of safety and environmental concerns.

There’s still much work to be done.

The proposed changes would increase the required set-back between wells and most buildings, such as homes, from 350 feet to 500 feet. Both distances are arbitrary, and neither one seems suitable for the concerns of both sides. Critics of the industry want a greater setback of wells to homes, saying that besides the obvious yet minimal danger of an explosion, the biggest concern is the release of gases, chemicals, dust and other substances that have a real effect on those exposed to them just about the distance of a football field. Oil industry officials say modern drilling and mining equipment have made it possible to practically seal well heads so that they are nearly impervious to leaks.

What the commission did right is propose new rules that increase how the oil industry must work harder to mitigate the effects of drilling in communities and at individual well-sites. What the commission did wrong is simply fall back on guesses, anecdote, hunches and compromise in setting out rules for how close humans can be to gas-and-drilling operations. Even if the state were a homogenous type of community, it would be impossible to create a set of rules and set-backs that could safely, accurately and fairly address the inevitable plethora of oddities.

That doesn’t mean that the state shouldn’t have rules in place to protect the public and offer assurances to the oil industry. But the better alternative is to allow for local control in places where it’s wanted and needed. Aurora is just such a place. While it’s easy to see that on the eastern horizon, where even roads are miles apart, that any of these proposed setbacks aren’t applicable. That’s not the case, however, where homes have met prairie. Industry officials have made it clear they’re keenly interested in gas and oil fields directly under local housing developments. Despite all the assurances of the industry, the visual evidence of oil and gas drilling will have just as real affect on residential property values, if not more so, than potential environmental threats. Adding a hundred or so feet to drilling setbacks does nothing to offset those kinds of problems — but requiring screening for well heads will.  Those issues are best handled locally in communities that want the responsibility. Whether it’s a horse-head pump or simply a pile of concrete, pipes and valves, how gas companies mitigate the appearance of these wells is just as important as mitigating the drilling and extraction problems.

Likewise, there are endless variables at stake when considering the permitting of drilling in urban areas. The public should expect endless exceptions to setback rules — to be made by local control — using common sense and not just arbitrary distances. A good example is where Aurora plains meet warehouse farms in northern Aurora. What is stored or produced inside some of these commercial plantations is potentially far more dangerous than a low-pressure wellhead. It’s also likely that a wellhead west of a home or development, upwind, is of far more concern than one downwind. A wellhead created upwind in a natural or man-made channel would be just as bothersome 500 feet from a home as it would be at 350 feet.

State regulators and legislators are to be applauded for taking on this thorny issue, keeping in mind that public safety and environmental protection are paramount, and that the gas and oil industry are critical state concerns. But communities like Aurora must have the option and the power to make common-sense decisions to protect everyone’s interests.