County considers oil and gas moratorium extension

The Board of Boulder County Commissioners will consider extending the moratorium on oil and gas applications on July 14. The moratorium is currently set to expire at the end of July.

A previous schedule to institute new rule-making regarding oil and gas development in the county (as prompted by the passage of Senate Bill 181) had to be thrown out due to the coronavirus. The July 14 meeting will be held virtually (accessed via boco.org/BOCC-OG- July-14-20) and those interested can submit comments ahead of time to oilgascomment@bouldercounty.org by 8 a.m. on July 13.

The decision to vacate and reconsider the moratorium time line comes as several oil and gas producers, including Denverbased Extraction Oil & Gas and the industry behemoth Chesapeake Energy, have recently filed for bankruptcy. Oil and gas prices dropped below $0 several weeks ago, though they have since rebounded. Still, the aftershocks are reverberating throughout the heavily indebted industry.