{"id":2746,"date":"2012-01-11T16:24:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T23:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/cmmr-schlegel-grows-govt\/"},"modified":"2012-01-11T16:24:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-11T23:24:32","slug":"cmmr-schlegel-grows-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2012\/01\/cmmr-schlegel-grows-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"Cmmr. Schlegel grows govt."},"content":{"rendered":"

From: Kurt Schlegel
\nSent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 12:22 PM
\nTo: Marvin and Nancy Maul; Del Schwab; John Shipper
\nCc: Richard L. Miller
\nSubject: DRAFT Elbert County Oil and Gas Regulations
\nGood Afternoon Mr. Maul,<\/p>\n

Thank you for sending me your thoughts \/ opinions regarding County based land use regulations.\u00a0 I have followed the recent actions that have been taken or deferred by other Counties regarding the adoption of specific land use regulation relating to Oil & Gas Exploration.\u00a0 As County Commissioners we are tasked with adopting and enforcing land use rules and regulations in order to protect the property values of all property owners in the County.<\/p>\n

I believe it is County government\u2019s duty to ensure that Oil & Gas exploration in Elbert County is done responsibly and\u00a0 staff has worked diligently to incorporate lessons that have been learned from other Colorado counties in our proposed Oil & Gas Regulations.\u00a0 Please be aware that these DRAFT regulations have nothing to do with the actual drilling \/ hydraulic fracturing \/ harvesting of resources processes.\u00a0 These are regulated by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).\u00a0 Our County regulations are designed to ensure the public safety by designating traffic \/ haul routes for equipment, specify where and how equipment can be stored safely, how waste byproducts are handled and stored, etc.\u00a0 In addition our staff has worked to ensure that the proposed regulations do not pre-empt any regulation already in place by the State of Colorado.\u00a0 I invite you to review the DRAFT document which is available on the Elbert County website at http:\/\/elbertcounty-co.gov\/dept_CommunityandDevelopmentServices.php<\/a><\/p>\n

As I stated previously, the County is also responsible for the enforcement of all zoning and land use regulations.\u00a0 The taxpayers expect this service and are entitled to this regulatory authority that is designed to protect everyone\u2019s property values and ensure the public\u2019s safety.\u00a0 The fact that we will have clearly defined what is expected of all surface activities associated with oil and gas exploration will make it easier for staff to enforce, thereby saving the taxpayers money in the long run.<\/p>\n

I appreciate your input and invite you to attend, or be a part of, the Planning Commission\u2019s review process.\u00a0 Their first meeting to discuss the DRAFT Oil & Gas Regulations is scheduled for Thursday – 26 January, 2012 at 6:00 pm.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Kurt C. Schlegel<\/p>\n

Elbert County Commissioner; District 2
\n215 Comanche Street
\nKiowa, CO\u00a0 80117
\n303-621-3139
\nKurt.schlegel@elbertcounty-co.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

From: Marvin and Nancy Maul
\nSent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 3:05 PM
\nTo: Del Schwab; Kurt Schlegel; John Shipper
\nSubject: Oil and gas regulations<\/p>\n

To the Elbert County Board of County Commissioners:<\/p>\n

This refers to the draft of new oil and gas regulations being prepared by Richard Miller, Director of the Elbert County Community and Development Services that I understand will be brought before the Board for a vote shortly.<\/p>\n

I would suspect that by now the Commissioners are aware of the lead editorial contained within the January 9 issue of The Denver Post entitled “Current fracking rules enough” which summarizes pretty well the intent of the editorial.\u00a0 I understand as well, that at least two Colorado counties (Arapahoe and Gunnison) have been convinced that their proposed oil and gas proposed regulations represent an unnecessary duplication of regulations already adopted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation\u00a0 Commission, and are withdrawing them.<\/p>\n

With all due respect I am concerned that actions taken by the Board to date as I understand them, seem to indicate that Elbert County is moving toward adoption of a 60-page set of regulations, tailor-made for Elbert County, even to the point of hiring outside counsel to aid in the drafting of the document. I cannot understand (and I refer again to the Denver Post article) why the County feels the need for a set of regulations that will largely superimpose over the existing COGCC regulations<\/p>\n

Further, we recognize that Elbert County as with most other governmental entities across the country is in a financially precarious position.\u00a0 Adding the regulatory purview\u00a0 of Mr.. Miller’s proposal to the county’s populace would include not only the direct costs of the consequences of the regulations as well as additional costs imposed by the mechanisms for enforcement of the regulations.\u00a0 How many new employees will Miller be able to add to his department if these regulations with resultant enforcement are adopted?\u00a0 It seems to me that in view of the state’s regulatory actions, the County’s tacking on of these new costs will represent a highly wasteful use of taxpayers dollars, and it’s not as if the environmental concerns of the County’s residents were being overlooked!<\/p>\n

Finally, as an Elbert County taxpayer, I am wondering if, in the event the County decides along with the other counties to instead adopt the COGCC regulations, will the County be able to recover some of the funds being expended on the outside lawyers?!<\/p>\n

Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n

Marvin O. Maul
\nColorado Springs, CO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: Kurt Schlegel Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 12:22 PM To: Marvin and Nancy Maul; Del Schwab; John Shipper Cc: Richard L. Miller Subject: DRAFT Elbert County Oil and Gas Regulations Good Afternoon Mr. Maul, Thank you for sending me your thoughts \/ opinions regarding County based land use regulations.\u00a0 I have followed the recent […]<\/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":[51,11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-growing-government","7":"category-planning","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746","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=2746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}