To understand how the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) came to be, one must flash back to the beginning of oil and gas exploration in Colorado. The Civil War is in its second year when the state’s first oil well is drilled in Fremont County (1862-63) and the transcontinental railroad, which will soon link the nation, has just broken ground. In the years that followed, western development of oil and gas was slow as the industry struggled to compete with cheap eastern oil flowing in via newly constructed railways connecting the nation. However, as new prospects and rising demand led to a boom in western production in the early 1900s, Colorado - as a newly formed state within the Union –was forced to address a problematic principle governing oil extraction at the time, known as the “rule of capture.”
The rule of capture meant that oil produced on a surface owner’s land belonged to the surface owner. Since oil reservoirs contain a liquid resource largely extracted under natural pressure, landowners were incentivized to sacrifice efficiency for speed, haphazardly siphoning the valuable resource from under their neighbors' feet. As competition intensified, the natural pressures that facilitate extraction were depleted faster than if production had followed the most efficient engineering practices, leaving large quantities of oil deep underground, where it was difficult or expensive to extract.
That’s where the keyword conservation comes into play. Unlike today — when conservation is typically used in the context of environmental protection — conservation used to be more about preventing the waste of energy resources during extraction. In 1951, the Colorado State Legislature created the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to bring an end to the rule of capture. The Commission’s five members (fewer than the six that serve on the Commission today) were responsible for adopting and enforcing rules to limit waste, so that oil and gas could be extracted as easily and efficiently as possible.
In the past decade, ECMC has transformed. In 2019, the agency’s mission changed from “fostering” to “regulating” oil and gas, and in 2023, Senate Bill 23-285 changed the agency’s name to the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, signaling ECMC’s expansion into new regulatory areas outside of oil and gas, like geothermal energy, carbon capture and natural gas storage. The evolution of conservation towards principles of protection and preservation has played a role in bringing about new regulatory frameworks. ECMC’s current mission reflects this shift, prioritizing the protection of public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources.
Celebrating 75 Years of Impact: In honor of the ECMC’s 75th anniversary, the agency is sharing a special retrospective series. Join us as we explore the defining moments from the agency’s history and the evolution of the industries we regulate.