ECMC Director submits annual Cumulative Impacts Report to the Commission
Denver, CO (Feb. 28, 2024) - The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) today announced the Director delivered the 2023 “Report on the Evaluation of Cumulative Impacts,” as required by SB 19-181 to regulate oil and gas development in a manner that is protective of public health, safety, welfare, wildlife and environmental resources.
The annual report is intended to inform the Commission of data, trends, and considerations in the ongoing evaluation of cumulative impacts from oil and gas operations. The report uses the Cumulative Impacts Data Evaluation Repository (CIDER), which includes data from the same comparative number of Oil & Gas Development Plans (OGDPs) approved by the Commission in 2023 as prior years.
“We are very proud to present the third annual report which shows that the framework established in ECMC’s rules to collect and compare data is working as intended by the Commission. Further, the ECMC’s stringent approach is showing results in terms of reducing cumulative impacts from oil and gas,” said ECMC Director Julie Murphy. “We are also seeing how this report can shape regulatory approaches as well as operational changes within ECMC.”
Additionally, the report includes the second year of Cumulative Impacts Data Evaluation Repository (CIDER) data associated with high priority habitats (HPHs), providing for the first time the ability to compare data sets. The report also now includes the comparison of initial estimated water use to actual water used.
The Director highlighted the trends seen in this report including: a reduction in overall well-counts and oil and gas locations across the state; reductions in per-well average emissions of NOx and VOC; and, a reduction in per-well averages of construction and post-interim reclamation disturbances within HPHs. The report discusses the collective work of multiple state agencies on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Pollution Reduction Roadmap, and summarizes the biennial GHG inventory modeling showing that the Oil and Gas Sector is achieving and exceeding its GHG emission reduction goals.
This third report continues the progress and allows for insight into year over year data to understand how these impacts may be changing over time. This report is intended to evolve as the Commission undertakes the cumulative impacts rulemaking in April 2024.
“Since the implementation of Mission Change Rulemaking, the Commission and Staff have worked hard to reduce the impacts of oil and gas, and the data in this report begins to show the fruit of that effort,” said Murphy.
“We recognize there are additional improvements to be done on the continued evaluation of cumulative impacts. The presentation and data contained in the cumulative impacts report will continue to transform with the current rulemaking,” said Murphy. “ ECMC has created a cumulative impacts work unit that will support these ongoing efforts and the new rules.”
Learn more about cumulative impacts rulemaking at the ECMC website.
About the ECMC
The mission of the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) is to regulate the development and production of the natural resources of oil and gas, deep geothermal resources, the capture and sequestration of carbon, and the underground storage of natural gas in a manner that protects public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources. Visit the ECMC website for more information.