s_sa_2017a_2017-05-03t13:38:55z2 Hearing Summary

Date: 05/03/2017

Location: SCR 357

01:53 PM -- HB17-1336



Senator Jones and Senator Aguilar, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 17-1336 to the committee. Under current law, any interested person may apply to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (commission) in the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for an order to pool oil and gas resources located within a specifically identified drilling area, referred to as forced pooling. Applicants are typically operators of oil and gas development companies. Forced pooling may occur when two or more individuals own separate mineral resources within the same geologic formation of oil or gas reserves. In the absence of voluntarily pooling these resources for development, the commission may compel private owners to pool these resources for development.



Current law requires that the commission first give notice to interested parties, and then conduct a hearing in which the commission may adopt a forced pooling order to allow an operator to drill for oil and gas within the specified area, despite one or more owners' lack of consent. This bill, as amended by the House Transportation & Energy Committee, requires that:



• the commission provide 90-days prior notice of a hearing to consider an application for forced pooling;



• prospective oil and gas operators first provide affected interest owners with an explanation of the laws governing forced pooling before applying to the commission for a forced pooling order;



• oil and gas operators file an electronic report with the commission stating the number of nonconsenting owners and the percentage of acres that have been force pooled within the drilling subject to the order; and



• the commission post the reports identifying nonconsenting owners in a searchable database on its website.



An operator may designate certain information the operator provides in the electronic report as a trade secret, privileged information, or confidential commercial, financial, geological, or geophysical data. If the commission agrees that the information meets the statutory definition of a trade secret or related privileged information, the commission shall not post this information on the web.



02:01 PM -- Matt Sura, representing himself, testified in support of the bill and provided handouts to committee members (Attachments C and D). Mr. Sura and Senator Jones responded to committee member questions.



17SenateState0503AttachC.pdf 17SenateState0503AttachD.pdf



02:25 PM -- Jeff Wasden, representing the Colorado Business Roundtable, testified against the bill.



02:29 PM -- Ken Wonstolen, representing the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Council, testified against the bill and responded to committee member questions.



02:42 PM -- Scott Campbell, representing the Colorado Petroleum Association, testified against the bill.



02:45 PM -- Dorothy Ostrogorski, representing the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Competitive Council, testified against the bill.





02:49 PM



Mr. Campbell responded to committee member questions.



02:55 PM -- Michelle Smith, representing herself and Vital for Colorado, testified against the bill.



02:58 PM -- Neil Ray, representing the Colorado Alliance of Mineral and Royalty Owners, testified against the bill and responded to committee member questions.



03:04 PM -- Councilman Mike Shelton, representing the City and County of Broomfield, testified in support of the bill.



03:08 PM -- Ann Marie Byers, representing the Wildgrass Oil and Gas Committee, testified in support of the bill.



03:13 PM -- Kathy Mendt, representing herself, testified in support of the bill.



03:17 PM -- Jean Lim, representing herself, testified in support of the bill.



03:20 PM -- Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer, representing Weld County and Colorado Counties, Inc, testified in support of the bill.



03:24 PM -- Councilman Steve Douglas, representing Commerce City, testified in support of the bill.





03:28 PM



Commissioner Kirkmeyer and Senator Jones discussed the bill.



03:30 PM -- William Francis, representing Incline Niobrara Partners, testified in support of the bill.



03:32 PM -- Jim Bensman, representing the Anthem Ranch Republican Club, testified in support of the bill.



03:36 PM -- Sophia Guerrero-Murphy, representing Conservation Colorado, testified in support of the bill.



03:38 PM -- Mark Ruzzin, representing Boulder County, testified in support of the bill.



03:42 PM -- Carl Erickson, representing himself, testified in support of the bill.



03:43 PM -- Vince Miller, representing himself, testified in support of the bill.



03:47 PM -- Councilwoman Elizabeth Law-Evans, representing the City and County of Broomfield, testified in support of the bill.



03:50 PM -- Anne Lane, representing the City and County of Broomfield, testified in support of the bill.



03:52 PM -- Kristi Douglas, representing herself, testified in support of the bill.





03:55 PM



Senators Aguilar and Jones wrapped up their presentation of the bill. Committee members commented on the bill.