Oil and gas task force plans first meeting

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s oil and gas commission will have its first meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25, when the 19-member task force will plan for the next six months and five more meetings.

The 19 appointees have six hours for their agenda on Thursday, which will be followed by a two-hour window for public comment, said Sara Barwinski, one of the task force’s members. From September to February, the commission will host six public meetings throughout the state.

Items on the meeting agenda include overview of legal aspects of the oil and gas industry, an overview of local regulations, and defining of the task force’s scope and general organization.

Thursday’s meeting will be one of four held on the Front Range. The commission, which is studying oil and gas development in Colorado, has been tasked with delivering a report with their findings to Hickenlooper and the Legislature no later than Feb. 27, 2015.

The commission was created in August as a last-minute alternative to having four contentious pro- and anti-oil and gas industry initiatives hit the November ballot.

Thursday’s meeting is open to the public and will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Colorado Parks and Wildlife offices at 6060 Broadway, Denver. Public comment will be from 4 to 6 p.m.

Speakers will be limited to two minutes during Thursday’s public comment session, Barwinski said.

Barwinski said the commission hopes to create a website where Colorado residents may also submit comments.

The other meetings are in Durango on Oct. 9-10; Rifle, Nov. 5-6; Denver, Dec. 10; Greeley, Jan. 15-16; and Denver, sometime in February.