Oil-and-gas director says state AG may have to decide drilling setback flap

A potentially precedent-setting fight over how close natural gas drilling should come to homes in the Western Slope community of Battlement Mesa may ultimately be decided by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, according to the director of the state’s oil and gas conservation commission.

COGCC executive director David Neslin recently told The Colorado Independent that his commission is empowered by the State Legislature to regulate oil and gas drilling in the state but that sometimes local regulations at the county level can conflict with the state’s interests.

Garfield County has been asked by citizen’s groups representing Battlement Mesa residents to exercise its land-use powers to increase setbacks for natural-gas drilling in their community to at least 1,000 feet from the current state standard of 150 feet.

Denver-based Antero Resources plans to drill up to 200 wells in the roughly 5,000-member community southwest of Rifle, although the company hasn’t formally submitted its comprehensive drilling plan (CDP) to the COGCC for approval.

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