ECMC is devoted to making our work as accessible as possible for community members. We welcome and need your feedback.
Contact us directly! Our Environmental Justice Liaisons are here to help you engage with our work as easily as possible. We are required by law to proactively provide additional opportunities for communities to engage in energy regulations and permitting processes. More so, we want to because environmental justice matters to us.
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Meet Our Team
Kristin Kemp, Denver, CO
Kristin has been a communications and community engagement professional since 2003. Prior to becoming a public servant at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in 2016, she worked in higher education and arts/culture. Among other volunteer roles, Kristin is president-elect for a charter school in Littleton, CO. She holds a Masters of Science Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture from Colorado State University and an MBA from CU-Denver. “Civic engagement matters,” said Kemp. “I take seriously the responsibility of encouraging my fellow Coloradans to be active participants in the policies and rulemakings that shape our state’s energy and carbon future. I’m proud to be part of ECMC and support the mission.” Kristin is the dedicated liaison for members of the media and CORA requestors.
Steven Arauza, Rifle, CO
Arauza has 13+ years of Oil & Gas regulatory experience, including over 9 years at ECMC as an environmental specialist evaluating remediation efforts at oil and gas sites. As a vocal community advocate, Arauza volunteers with Voces Unidas de las Montañas, serves on the CDPHE Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and is an elected officer for Colorado Workers for Innovative and New Solutions (COWINS), the State employee union. He obtained his Master of Science in Geological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. “I am especially interested in assessment and mitigation of cumulative impacts of climate change, stewardship of environmental resources, and protection and authentic engagement of disproportionately impacted communities,” said Arauza.
Steve is the dedicated liaison for communities on the West Slope as well as Tribal Nations.
Yesica Chavez, Denver, CO
Chavez has been an environmental justice advocate for more than a decade, beginning as Student Coordinator at Environmental Learning for Kids — where she had previously attended outreach programs as a teenager in Denver — and subsequently at Keystone Policy Center and ClimateWorks Foundation. Among extensive volunteerism, Chavez served as the Board Chair of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Equity Grant Program for two years. She obtained her Master’s in Global Health Research from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and was a 2024 Environmental Justice Fellow at the Yale School of the Environment. “I’m extremely excited to join the team and begin collaborating within communities to ensure they have the knowledge and resources to voice their concerns, drive solutions, and engage in decisions that prioritize public health, environmental protection, and community well-being”.
Yesica is the dedicated liaison for communities on the Front Range as well as Hispanic communities.
Environmental Justice
Cumulative impacts refer to the combined effects on public health and the environment from the incremental impacts of a proposed oil and gas operation, alongside those from past, present, and foreseeable future developments. Addressing long-standing environmental and health impacts, particularly in Disproportionately Impacted (DI) communities, requires an accurate and realistic understanding of the effects from combined exposures to chemical and other stressors such as noise, odor, and socioeconomic disadvantages. It also requires stakeholders, particularly in DI communities, to have access to information and decision-making opportunities.
Colorado’s statutory definition of Disproportionately Impacted (DI) communities includes low income communities, communities of color, housing cost-burdened communities, linguistically isolated communities, communities with environmental and socioeconomic impacts, Tribal lands, mobile home communities, and historically marginalized communities. The state identifies DI communities at the census block group scale, which is the smallest geographic scale of data available from the US Census Block Bureau and typically contains 600 to 3,000 individuals.
The cumulative impacts rules also require the integration of new data cross-checks in the permitting process regarding NOx and Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Furthermore, the rules include new, more protective practices when applying for oil and gas permits. The rules ensure that operators are compliant with air pollution rules as adopted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE) Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC). The full rulemaking is published online.
The rules reflect a paradigm shift in energy regulation. In 2019, Senate Bill 19-181 put in place a new mission for ECMC to regulate energy development in a manner that protects public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources, whereas the prior mission fostered energy development. In the past five years, ECMC has implemented new rules that reflect the new mission. Notably, SB23-285 authorized ECMC to be the regulatory authority over geothermal and underground gas storage in Colorado; SB23-016 authorized ECMC to seek Class VI primacy for carbon storage injection wells; SB24-229 mandated more stringent regulations regarding operator’s uses of electric submersible pump and the reduction of NOx emissions; and HB24-1346 and Senate Bill 24-229 authorized ECMC to adopt cumulative impacts rules.