Weld Air & Water v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

Citations

• 2019 COA 86

Syllabus

Extraction Oil and Gas, Inc. (Extraction) filed two Form 2A applications with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (the Commission) seeking approval to conduct oil and gas operations at an existing drilling site. The proposed site was approximately 1,360 feet from a middle school. The Commission accepted public comments on the applications and subsequently approved the applications. Weld Air & Water, Sierra Club, NAACP Colorado State Conference, and Wall of Women (petitioners) are organizations that have aesthetic, recreational, health, and environmental interests in the proposed development location and sued in district court. The district court affirmed the Commission's decision. On appeal, the Commission asserted that the district court erred when it held that petitioners had standing to seek judicial review of the Commission's authorization of Extraction's Form 2A permit applications. Petitioners offered declarations from members on how the expected air and noise pollution from Extraction's proposed development would negatively impact their interests. Petitioners thus established injuries-in-fact to legally protected interests under the Colorado Administrative Procedure Act (the APA) and the Oil and Gas Conservation Act (the Act), which authorizes judicial review of the Commission's permit approvals via the APA. The district court did not err in holding that petitioners had standing to seek judicial review of the Commission's permit approvals. Petitioners argued that the district court erred when it found that the Commission did not act arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to consider public comments. They contended that the Commission was obligated to respond to substantive public comments because its rules require it to make a record of its decision-making process to show that it considered public comments. The record shows that the Commission considered and responded to public concerns regarding (1) the students' health, (2) Extraction's emerge