10 years since Frederick fought to a draw on oil/gas rules

By Scott Rochat Longmont Times-Call

Posted:   06/02/2012 07:24:36 PM MDT

Updated:   06/02/2012 08:22:14 PM MDT

An oil well sits in a field south of the new Frederick High School. ( LEWIS GEYER )

FREDERICK -- As Longmont struggles over how to regulate oil and gas drilling, the nearby town of Frederick can sympathize.

Frederick, of course, sits in the southwest corner of Weld County -- or perhaps that should be "Welled County." About one-third of the state's active oil and gas wells sit in Weld, more than 17,000 at last count. Of those, 440 are in Frederick, according to town officials.

So the town's no stranger to the industry, or to attempts to deal with it. In fact, Frederick is a legal landmark in the field. Ten years ago, the town and North American Resources Co. (NARCO) were locked in a courtroom battle, waiting for Division IV of the Colorado Court of Appeals to have its say on just how far a town could

Frederick had regulations requiring each well site to be at least 350 feet from an occupied building. Division IV of the Colorado Court of Appeals judges struck down the setback regulations. ( LEWIS GEYER )

regulate a driller.

The results, to say the least, were mixed.

"The court in essence said, 'We're not going to tell you what to do. We're going to say you can do it, just not the way you have done it,'" said Cyril Vidergar, an attorney for the town.

A taxing issue

The issue really started even 10 years before that. Back in 1991, Frederick used to levy an "occupation tax" on oil and gas operators, a specific levy on anyone wanting to bring up oil and gas in the town limits. That got challenged in court and eventually settled -- but in the aftermath, state authorities made occupation taxes illegal in 1996.

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As we have stated last year: "It's WELL COUNTY" 

Drilling permit moratorium passes - One more down, many more to go

DentonRC.com
February 8, 2012
By Lowell Brown / Staff Writer

City won’t approve new requests while review continues

Image: WTFrack.org

The Denton City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to impose a moratorium on new gas drilling and production permits, giving the city some breathing room to finish an ongoing ordinance overhaul.

The moratorium will last for 120 days, although the council could extend it if necessary. During that time, city staff members are supposed to complete their review of current drilling regulations and offer recommended changes.

A task force is meeting weekly to review new regulations, and staff members have said they hope to get a draft ordinance to the council in March.

The moratorium applies to new oil and gas well permits as well as applications for specific-use permits, site plans, development plans and plats that relate to mineral production. The moratorium does not apply to applications already on file with the city or to wells associated with previously approved permits or development plans, among other exceptions.

“A moratorium that froze everything in the pipeline would have just delayed some inevitable activity, because there are some approvals that are vested under our current regulations and the new rules wouldn’t have any effect on them,” Gregory said.

Gas industry representatives opposed the moratorium.

Gilbert Horton, representing Devon Energy, said Denton’s regulations were already “extensive and comprehensive.” A moratorium is unnecessary and could threaten Devon’s development plans, he said.

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“We in Denton are opposed to drilling in our city,” he said. “These are our elected officials and they answer to us and not their checks.”