Source: Bruce Finley The Denver Post
Oil and gas lawyers want residents banned from talking at rule hearing
UPDATED: 01/04/2013 11:37:00 PM MST
Oil and gas industry lobbyists are maneuvering to block Coloradans who live near drill sites from talking about their experiences during a rule-making hearing next week.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Colorado Petroleum Association legal motions argue that state laws and procedural rules bar state commissioners from hearing written or oral testimony from the residents because it would be improper, “abusive and harassing” or irrelevant.
State legal advisers to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Friday evening did not immediately make a decision. Conservation groups called on Gov. John Hickenlooper to let residents testify. Later Friday, the Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Association of Homebuilders and Colorado Cattlemen’s Association filed similar motions to block residents.
“Where oil and gas development has occurred, we have seen compromised systems and human error resulting in injury, death, loss of quality of life and land values, and pollution (of) our water air and soil,” Garfield County resident Tresi Houpt said in her written testimony.
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Oil and gas lawyers want residents banned from talking at rule hearing – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22314105#ixzz2K6FUrxsW
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