Four years after an overhaul of Colorado’s oil and gas rules that was meant to cool conflicts over drilling, a draft bill that would phase out new permits for wells is running up the temperature. Fanning the heat even more are ballot proposals that could restrict efforts to boost renewable energy.

Gov. Jared Polis said he hoped a law approved in 2019 would end the state’s “oil and gas wars” by tightening regulations and putting protection of public health and the environment front and center. But growing concerns about climate change and Colorado’s failure to meet federal air quality standards along the Front Range are driving a proposal to halt new oil and gas permits by the end of 2029.

“I think most Coloradans agree with us that we can’t keep drilling forever. It’s a finite energy source. Fossil fuel demand is going down in Colorado because we are starting to transition to clean energy,” said Democratic Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Lafayette, a sponsor of the bill on phasing out new permits.

More than 100,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Colorado and nearly 50,000 wells are in production, Jaquez Lewis said. New permits will be allowed until the first of 2030. For permits issued after July 1, 2024, certain operations on a well would have to start on or before the end of 2032.

“There are going to be thousands of wells producing well after 2050,” said Jaquez Lewis. “No one at all is trying to halt oil and gas production.”

If the bill is approved and signed by Polis, it will result in a ban on oil and gas production in Colorado, industry representatives said.

The governor wasn’t consulted on the legislation and hasn’t reviewed it, spokeswoman Shelby Wieman said in an email.

“There’d be no new permits approved after 2029, so a little over five years from now. No new drilling beginning in 2032, so it’s a ban on the industry,” Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said. “The peak period for a well is the first 18 months. If you’re not adding new oil and gas drilling, you will not be able to provide the energy that our state needs.”

The oil and gas industry has worked diligently to meet the state’s goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said Kait Schwartz, director of API Colorado, the state branch of the American Petroleum Institute.

The state’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap’s goals include cutting heat-trapping emissions by 26% by 2025, 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 from 2005 levels.

“Our industry is spending millions of dollars on technology and innovation to ensure that we’re doing cleaner, better safer,” Haley said.

Haley and Schwartz said more energy will be needed going forward and that utilities, including Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electric utility, are planning new natural gas facilities.

“I think we’ll be putting pressure on the sponsors of this legislation. It’s a waste of taxpayer money and we will be trying to bring attention to that,” Schwartz said.

Heidi Leathwood, a climate policy analyst with the environmental group 350 Colorado, said in a statement that the oil and gas industry engages in “deliberate fear mongering” to raise concerns about the state’s energy supply. Advocates of phasing out new drilling permits say the state produces nearly four times the natural gas and twice the oil that Colorado uses.

Colorado is among the country’s top 10 states in oil and gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The state has also significantly expanded the use of renewable energy sources, according to EIA. Since 2010, Colorado’s total renewable electricity net generation has more than quadrupled and accounted for 37% of the total generation in 2022.

Progress by the state, utilities and communities in increasing the use of renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change could be undermined by a pair of industry-sponsored ballot proposals, said Alana Miller of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

An industry-financed organization called Protect Colorado is collecting signatures for two proposed initiatives that backers say would protect consumer choice in energy. If passed, the measures would prohibit “favoring or discriminating against an energy source” through laws, ordinances, regulations or codes by the state and local governments.

Miller said the proposals could create questions about “nearly all of our climate and energy policies.”

The state and communities across Colorado have set goals for moving from fossil fuels for electricity and heat and using more wind and solar power as well as battery storage and making buildings more energy efficient. Various rebates and incentives to electrify their homes or install chargers for electric vehicles are available.

“We have certainly seen attempts from the oil and gas companies to take away the ability for municipalities and state governments to offer incentives and to protect public health and the environment,” Miller said. “I don’t know that we have seen anything quite this sweeping.”

A report filed in December by Protect Colorado with the secretary of state’s office shows that the organization received $3.39 million in contributions and spent $2.25 million for the period. The oil and gas companies that contributed included Occidental Petroleum, Chevron, Phillips 66 and Bayswater Exploration and Production.

Protect Colorado must collect 124,238 valid signatures of registered voters by April 18 to get the initiatives on the ballot.

The No. 1 concern for Coloradans is the cost of living, Mark Truax, campaign manager for Protect Colorado, said in an email.

“Consumers deserve options that keep their costs down and best meet their family or business needs and their budgets,” added Truax, president and CEO of Pac/West Strategies.

Truax said Colorado’s regulations, some of the strongest in the country, should be allowed to work rather than “enacting an extreme ban that will increase costs for consumers and harm Colorado’s economy.”

However, Jessica Burley, on the Frisco Town Council, believes electricity produced by renewable sources provides more stable and predictable prices than natural gas. She noted that recent winter storms and freezing weather drove wholesale gas costs up, which are passed onto customers.

Burley also worries about the impacts on local and regional programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions if the ballot proposals become law. Frisco aims to reduce emissions 80% by 2050.

“As a local government, as a small town in Colorado, we value local control,” Burley said.

Another concern is the ballot measures’ language.

“It’s playing on our desires as American consumers to have freedom of choice,” Burley said. “While that is important, it doesn’t adequately provide context around how dire the climate emergency is that we are in.”

Updated at 1 p.m. Feb. 14 to add link to legislation on oil and gas permitting.

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