Oil and Gas

Please note that the information provided below is only a portion of the information available on oil and gas drilling and production and is not all-inclusive. Douglas County does not endorse, promote or necessarily agree with the information provided on any of the linked sites and disclaims any responsibility for the information contained on the sites. The only exceptions are the Douglas County Zoning Resolution and the Douglas County Oil & Gas Production Transportation Impact Study Report.

Douglas County does not have any pending or active oil and gas development permits. If a permit application is made to the State, the County’s Local Government Designee (LGD) will be notified. Below are some staff-identified resources related to oil and gas development that may be helpful:

The Douglas County Zoning Resolution (DCZR) establishes the land use process for oil and gas drilling in Douglas County. The DCZR provides a process for oil and gas drilling through a Use by Special Review process on conforming Agricultural One (A-1) zoned parcels (35 acres or greater). The Use by Special Review process requires public hearings before the Douglas County Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners.
Oil and gas development in Colorado is regulated primarily by the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC), formerly known as the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), which is a division of the State of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources. The mission of the ECMC is to regulate the development and production of the natural resources of oil and gas in the state of Colorado in a manner that protects public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources.
The United States Geological Society (USGS) has published information regarding the technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Denver Basin Province entitled 2002 USGS Assessment of Oil and Gas Resource Potential of the Denver Basin Province of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers a comprehensive explanation of the hydraulic fracturing process and what oversight the EPA has in place to regulate this use.
In February 2011, the EPA released a draft study on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.
The COGCC has specific rules to protect wildlife and mitigate the impacts of oil and gas drilling.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) is a trade association that “aggressively promotes the expansion of Rocky Mountain natural gas markets, supply, and transportation infrastructure through its growing and diverse membership.” The purpose of COGA is “to foster and promote the beneficial, efficient, responsible and environmentally sound development, production and use of Colorado oil and natural gas.”
The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) is an organization that represents oil and gas royalty owners’ interests. NARO promotes “the rights, responsibilities and the definitions of citizens who own the natural resources in our country.”
Geology.com is a website that provides a wide variety of information on rock formations, geologic activity, satellite images, maps and more. This link http://geology.com/articles/mineral-rights.shtml offers a very comprehensive, understandable explanation of what mineral rights are, uses and royalties, pooling and negotiation of leases. It also speaks to disagreements during extraction and potential damage to the surface and aquifers.
The Douglas County Assessor’s Office created the Mineral Interests brochure which offers a great deal of information on minerals and the statutes regarding ownership, rights, and taxes. Visit the Assessor’s Office for information regarding your property or for the Clerk & Recorder.
Planning Services created an Oil and Gas Brochure to inform property owners about potential oil and gas development in the County.
An independent 2011 Douglas County Oil & Gas Production Transportation Study Report was commissioned to thoroughly understand the potential impacts to the County’s roadway system should the County experience oil and gas development and production. This study is not intended to predict oil and gas development, rather it is intended to provide County officials with information about the potential impacts to the transportation system and associated investment needs using an informed set of development scenarios based on the best available data in other locations in the state. Douglas County intends to revisit the study when, or if, oil and gas drilling and development occurs and real-world, Douglas County-based data can be substituted for previously used data from other locations.

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