{"id":2708,"date":"2011-12-19T13:54:30","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T20:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2011\/12\/19\/planning-hubris\/"},"modified":"2011-12-19T14:15:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-19T21:15:38","slug":"planning-hubris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2011\/12\/planning-hubris\/","title":{"rendered":"planning hubris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problems with the 07-2011 Draft Oil & Gas Regs proposed for<\/strong>\u00a0Elbert County Zoning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Page 5<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026unless approval has been granted pursuant to these regulations from the Director of Community & Development Services (C&DS) or<\/em><\/strong> the Board of County Commissioners (Board).\u201d
\nAre we setting up an unelected czar of oil and gas zoning enforcement, unaccountable to the voters?<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 6<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cthe County Attorney or<\/em><\/strong> where the Board deems it appropriate, the District Attorney\u2026\u2026may [act]\u201d
\nHere again, should enforcement of zoning be allowed without the approval of an elected official?<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 21<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cSafety practices in accordance with state and federal law, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970\u2026.\u201d
\nElbert County should not be in the business of enforcing federal OSHA law.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 23<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cThe oil and gas facility shall not cause significant degradation of wildlife, including any federal, state or Colorado Natural Heritage Program-identified species of concern, or to their habitat.\u00a0 At a minimum, the operation shall comply with the CDOW\u2019s recommended\u2026..\u201d
\nThe CDOW, Colorado and the federal government can enforce their own wildlife regulations.\u00a0 Elbert County does not need to duplicate those efforts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 23<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cWhen planning facilities, the Applicant shall consult and reference the current wildlife concurrence data, including the CDOW\u2019s Natural Diversity Information Source database\u2026\u201d
\nBio-diversity is buzzword science with no greater purpose than stopping development.\u00a0 It has no place in industry zoning regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 25<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cinstall wildlife crossovers and escape ramps where the trench crosses well-defined game trails\u201d
\nPresumably this would be for the really smart or well trained wild game, who know how to use such devices.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 26<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cThe applicant shall identify the proposed source of fresh or potable water required for the oil and gas facility and dust control, along with a letter from the Colorado Division of Water Resources or a copy of the Water Court decree indicating that the water supply source is acceptable for the use at the oil and gas facility.\u201d
\nHere again, water regulation falls outside of Elbert County\u2019s jurisdiction.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter for the State Engineer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 37<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cthe right of the county to determine land uses\u201d
\nIsn\u2019t it the people\u2019s right to determine land use within allowed limits?\u00a0 I thought government in America was based on limitations, not rights.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 39<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cNo oil and gas facilities shall cause a reduction in solar radiation\u2026\u201d
\nIsn\u2019t it a reach to blame the existence or absence of solar radiation on an oil well?<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 39<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cGreenhouse Gas Reduction\u201d
\nZoning regulations should not incorporate the spurious science of global warming language.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 40<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u201cThe county finds that the standard industry practice of injecting highly toxic substances under high pressure into the earth for the purpose of fracturing geologic formations poses an unacceptable risk of polluting these invaluable ground water resources.\u201d
\nThis statement ascribes a harmful intent to the oil and gas industry as a \u201cstandard practice.\u201d\u00a0 The statement is prejudicial, unfounded, and not conducive to\u00a0sound science or good industry relations.<\/em><\/p>\n

If the Community and Development Services department needs a toxic blend to regulate, look to the toxic combination of subjects below under which this post is filed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problems with the 07-2011 Draft Oil & Gas Regs proposed for\u00a0Elbert County Zoning Page 5:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026unless approval has been granted pursuant to these regulations from the Director of Community & Development Services (C&DS) or the Board of County Commissioners (Board).\u201d Are we setting up an unelected czar of oil and gas zoning enforcement, unaccountable to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,31,18,51,11,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ecomyths","7":"category-energy","8":"category-global-warming","9":"category-growing-government","10":"category-planning","11":"category-punitive-liberalism","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}