“This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.”

Jerry Dahl, an attorney employed by the Elbert County Community and Development Services Department, advises the public about his stance on county oil and gas regulation, at the Planning Commission meeting last night, 1/26/2012.

Audio here: Jerry Dahl at EC Planning Comm 1_26_2012.wmv

It is reasonable to conclude from his remarks that Mr. Dahl is promoting a county “right” to further regulate oil and gas development, and that he foresees the need for the county to litigate the question.

As an attorney Mr. Dahl represents his client’s interest, and the client is Richard Miller, the director of the Community and Development Services Department.  Mr. Miller introduced Mr. Dahl and it is fair to conclude that Mr. Dahl accurately represented Mr. Miller’s interest.

So, the director of planning wants to regulate oil and gas development at the county level, and he’s hired an adversarial attorney who shares that interest.

And who are the people to be regulated by these forces?  You and me.  The county has an attorney sworn to zealously defend their interest, because all attorneys take an oath to zealously defend their clients’ interests, against you and me.

Should our tax money be used to fund an adversarial legal process that is aimed at us?

The Circus is back in town.  Or maybe it never left.  The names remain the same, the form of the cause evolves slightly, but the theme persists.  Shut down growth.  Keep the country in the county.  Save us.

Locally it started with the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse, a creature near and dear to our hearts that was uniquely threatened by evil developer bulldozers.  We awoke to find one day that this rodent species owns a whole basket of usurped property rights.  Based on this novel discovery, hundreds of green and left warriors combined with sympathetic government regulators to form the Circus and bring into existence, by mere presumption, thousands of pages of growth-stopping regulations.  They empowered the federal Environmental Protection Agency and all subordinate levels of government to save that mouse, and by their curious chain of cause and effect, us too.  The economic clout now wielded on behalf of that mouse makes it one of the most powerful rodents in the history of the universe, probably second only to Mickey.  And we were not saved.

The Circus rested for a bit and recharged its batteries.  Then along came an evil developer intent on bringing commerce to the eastern plains of Colorado with a broad vision for a super highway complete with utility corridors and railroad tracks.  Imagine the environmental impacts–pretty much the worst things possible–the smog all that transportation would cause, the ancient trees to be felled, the noise, the light.  Don’t go toward the light!  Imagine the poor mice that would have to be relocated and provided similar habitat—if it could even be found—outside of the right of way.  The damages would surely be irreparable.  The Circus shifted into high gear and put the pedal to the metal.  They rented busses to carry occupants to the State capitol.  They saturated planning and commissioner meetings.  They filled the internet with a relentless onslaught of do or die hyperbolic predictions about the end of the world that this road would precipitate.  The end of the world was serious stuff.  No one wanted that.  The laws were passed, the court cases came in.  The Circus rested.  And still we were not saved.

One day an evil developer came along, intent on bringing water commerce to the eastern plains of Colorado with a broad vision for long distance water transportation to quench the thirst of citizens in a sub-development in Colorado Springs.  The Circus double clutched their well-oiled machine and slipped it into gear.  Hundreds of loud clamorers filled auditoriums,  government meetings and state house offices with a new flag of presumed entitlement, “our water.”  The fact that not a drop of it actually belonged to them gave them no pause.  “Our water” was not actually “their water” but the mob has never been one to quibble about details like legal property rights.  They were all about momentum, sound bites and the persuasion of pure force.  Demonstrators and occupyers don’t wait for the subtleties of legal technicalities, unless of course a legal technicality can be found to put wind into their sails, that’s another matter.  The evil developer was persuaded to recede into the tapestry of the world, and the Circus rested once again.  And still we were not saved.

Then along came the evil energy developers, intent on bringing commerce to the eastern plains of Colorado with a broad vision of energy independence from the beneficial use of dormant oil and gas supplies lying ten thousand feet down in the ground.  The Circus kicked their machine into overdrive.  To save us once again, the green and left warriors sallied forth and wrote hundreds of pages of zoning laws incorporating every growth stopping agency and device ever conceived by statist man.  They employed lawyers to tune their language so those laws could only be challenged—never repealed—by endless years of impossibly expensive litigation.

The Roman government gave bread and circuses to the people to distract them from the messy details of their oppressive governors.  Today’s Circus combines the clamoring class of green and leftist warriors with a sympathetic regulatory class of unelected bureaucrats, to form the government itself.  Gone are those halcyon times when the mob could be placated by mere food and entertainment.  Perhaps conditioned by reality TV, the mob now insists on being part of the action.  They want a hand in actually creating the government fascism that will turn around and oppress them.  So long as they can applaud a victory, it matters not that the beast they create intends to dine on them.

For all their efforts put in to save our quality of life, our environment, and our property values, you’d think real estate around here would be getting more expensive.

The Jews have their Talmud, the Muslims their Hadiths, exhaustive rules of religious law and taboo to define every nuance of permissible human action.  Secular Americans have City, County, State and Federal regulations in a great fascist web waiting to entrap citizens, pending the whim of an invisible unelected bureaucratic shaman somewhere who may notice a non-compliant act, and who then brings down the wrath of government upon the citizen, er, applicant.

The applause is always deafening.

“Why bother with an environmental impact assessment if the decision was always going to be made for political reasons?” WSJ, 1/19/2012, pg. A14.

Excellent question, and it points squarely to the agenda motivating Elbert County greens in pushing through impossibly complex local oil and gas zoning. This zoning putsch masquerades under saving property values, sparing the environment, and smart growth, but those are just platitudes for the rubes.

This zoning would create a matrix of imponderable and unchallengeable laws administered by a czar, who would conduct numerous public planning circuses for green activists to attend and applaud, for the sole purpose of displaying oil and gas development blasphemers for the greens to ridicule.

The political decision has already been made by these people. Please, save us all a lot of time and money. We’re not stupid. We don’t need your sacrificial rituals to the green gods. Just ban it for the taboo that you’ve already decided it is.

And I want to see the Community and Development Services director wear a witch doctor’s headdress at future BOCC meetings, you know, something befitting a smartly dressed shaman.

Text of letter: AG letter to El Paso County of 1-10-2012

Attorney General warns El Paso County on proposed oil and gas regs

ANDREW WINEKE

2012-01-17 16:26:51

The Attorney General’s Office last week sent a letter warning El Paso County that its proposed oil and gas drilling regulations conflicted with state regulations.

The letter, dated Jan. 10, cited proposed rules on setbacks, excavations, water quality, wildlife, visual and noise impacts and permitting that it argued are in the purview of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

“The county should reject the proposed rules discussed above as being in operational conflict with the (oil and gas commission’s) regulatory regime,” the letter concluded. “The county should reject the proposed rules discussed above for the additional reason that exhaustive local regulations are unnecessary.” (more…)

“Every year regulatory compliance costs U.S. businesses $1.75 Trillion. That would be enough to hire 43 Million workers.”

See this short youtube video at Episode Two: Economic Freedom in America Today.

Regulation is not only a Federal problem.  Regulation is pernicious, at every level of government.  Today Elbert County has a clear choice whether or not to greatly expand our county’s regulatory reach into energy development matters it knows next to nothing about.

At the county level the force of regulation is imposed through zoning law.  Our county’s Community and Development Services department works every day to write, refine, expand, detail and enforce their ubiquitous vision of a perfectable society.  They want to save this land and this county from its people because, essentially, they don’t trust the people.

They think they are wise stewards who, with a third-party steward’s interest, have a more valuable right to forecefully impose their vision about a sound local economy, than the stakeholders and property holders in the county have in doing so for themselves.

Zoning regulators think that by stopping people from the pursuit of economic activity, they serve a higher purpose of preservation of our local world.  This of course begs questions of preservation for what?  For who?  For when?  And for why?

Of course they have answers for all of these questions.  The answers are myths — myths consisting of more tenuous myths in a great pyramid of “smart,” sustainable, no-growth, enviro-jihad mythology.

The future beneficiaries of county zoning and regulation don’t exist.  They are a myth–not real–and unless you’re a believer, not even foreseeable.  The great probability is they will never come to exist because future unforseen circumstances will change everything long before these present day socio and eco myths can ever be tested, long after they are forgotten in favor of some future mythology as yet unkown.

Man took matters that used to be in God’s domain and invested them in Gaia, the environment and universe-trekking aliens. That’s what humans do at the margins of their knowledge where observation ends and speculation begins–we create mythologies–myths that we love.   And then we create the legalities to enforce those mythologies.

Regulatory zealots consider this sort of talk heresy.  They believe that the forced perfectibility of man and the environment is actually possible.  Just as the power that was - the Church - once defended Ptolemy’s geocentric universe against the heresy of Copernicus, so too the regulatory powers of today know, without a shadow of doubt, that they know best, and that they can sufficiently describe, legislate, and enforce a set of rules to govern our behavior, for our own best interest.

To even imagine they could succeed at such a task is a pinnacle of hubris.  When has an authoritarian process ever led to a best outcome for its subjects?  When have a small minority of minds ever created the economic output of a diverse population acting in their own interests?  The regulatory model cannot succeed.

Regulation makes inevitable change much more costly.  The regulatory parties in government who do this to us have no personal skin in the game–only myths and the iron fist–a deadly combination.  Ironically, the regulatory mission of governing progressives is about the most regressive thing they could do.

If we can’t stop creating mythologies, at least we should learn to stop legalizing them.

~

On the subject of county level oil and gas regulations:

“In that same spirit, we intend to work with counties and municipalities to make sure we have appropriate regulation on oil and gas development, but recognize the state can’t have 64 or even more different sets of rules.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/01/12/text-hickenloopers-state-of-the.html?page=all

Perhaps the tide of regulatory proliferation of the myth of a perfectable society has turned around on all the would-be czars and county potentates in Colorado’s planning and zoning departments.

Our freedom depends on it.

The declared Republican challenger to the Elbert County commissioner district 3 seat, Mr. Larry Ross, briefly introduced himself at a Republican Central Committee meeting last night. He told the members that the poor condition of the local economy had motivated him to run for commissioner. And he told the members that he was a strong proponent of regulation.
It was during a period of brief introductions of various candidates and the purpose of the meeting was not to vet candidates, so no one questioned him on the juxtaposition of those two statements.

No one remarked about how regulations suppress economic activity.

No one mentioned how county zoning is an authoritarian process for imposing government takings in a heavily tilted playing field where the government holds practically unlimited power and the citizen is treated as a serf.

No one informed him that a pro-regulation position is an inherently unconservative and unRepublican stance.

And no one asked him why in the world he’s running as a Republican.

Even though there wasn’t time for it last night, these things needed to be mentioned.

~

By the way, all Republican caucus attendees should pre-register for the 2/7/2012 caucus at http://www.caucus.cologop.org  This is quick process that simply verifies your Republican party voter registration, a requirement to vote in the caucus.  Pre-registration is not mandatory but it will help those running your caucus speed things along that night if you are pre-registered.

~

Proposed Elbert County Oil & Gas Regulations and Permitting Process
Part II, Section 26.2 Review Procedures

I. OPERATIONAL CONFLICTS WAIVER

A waiver to these Regulations shall be granted if or when the application of the requirements of these Regulations actually conflict in operation with the rules of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act or implementing regulations.

1. All applications where a waiver due to operational conflicts is requested shall be processed as a Major Oil & Gas Facility and heard in a noticed public hearing by the Board of County Commissioners. The Applicant shall have the burden of pleading and proving an actual, material, irreconcilable operational conflict between the requirements of this section and those of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission in the context of a specific application.

Translation: You have to prove an operational conflict exists between interpretations of the county and interpretations of the state regulations.

2. For purposes of this Section, an operational conflict exists where an actual application of a County condition of approval or regulation is contrary to State statutory or regulatory requirements and where such conflict would materially impede or destroy the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation  Commission’s goals of fostering the responsible, balanced development, production, and utilization of the oil and gas resources in the State of Colorado in a manner consistent with protection of public health, safety, and welfare, and protection of the environment and wildlife resources.

Translation: The county determines the standard by which it will accept a conclusion of an operational conflict.

3. County requirements in areas regulated by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission that fall within County land use powers necessary to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare pursuant to the application presented, and which do not impose unreasonable burdens on the Applicant, or materially impede the State’s goals, shall be presumed not to present an operational conflict.

Translation: The county will interpret when an operation conflict exists and whether the conflict presents an unreasonable burden to the applicant.

4. If the Board of County Commissioners determines that compliance with the requirements of these Regulations results in an operational conflict with State statutes or regulations, a waiver to this section shall be granted, in whole or in part, but only to the extent necessary to remedy the operational conflict. The Board of County Commissioners may mitigate any impacts by conditioning the approval of a waiver as necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. Any such condition shall be such that the condition itself does not conflict with the requirements of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission.

Translation: The county says whether a waiver that they might offer will satisfy the conflicting state requirement.

5. If the Applicant, or any person entitled to receive notice of the original application for the Oil & Gas. Facility, wishes to seek judicial review of a final Board of County Commissioner’s decision on the operational conflict waiver request, appeal to the district court shall be pursuant to C.R.C.P. Rule 106(a)4.

Translation: If you don’t like it, sue us.

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.  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.  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.

I believe it is County government’s duty to ensure that Oil & Gas exploration in Elbert County is done responsibly and  staff has worked diligently to incorporate lessons that have been learned from other Colorado counties in our proposed Oil & Gas Regulations.  Please be aware that these DRAFT regulations have nothing to do with the actual drilling / hydraulic fracturing / harvesting of resources processes.  These are regulated by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).  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.  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.  I invite you to review the DRAFT document which is available on the Elbert County website at http://elbertcounty-co.gov/dept_CommunityandDevelopmentServices.php

As I stated previously, the County is also responsible for the enforcement of all zoning and land use regulations.  The taxpayers expect this service and are entitled to this regulatory authority that is designed to protect everyone’s property values and ensure the public’s safety.  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.

I appreciate your input and invite you to attend, or be a part of, the Planning Commission’s review process.  Their first meeting to discuss the DRAFT Oil & Gas Regulations is scheduled for Thursday - 26 January, 2012 at 6:00 pm.

Sincerely,

Kurt C. Schlegel

Elbert County Commissioner; District 2
215 Comanche Street
Kiowa, CO  80117
303-621-3139
Kurt.schlegel@elbertcounty-co.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Marvin and Nancy Maul
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 3:05 PM
To: Del Schwab; Kurt Schlegel; John Shipper
Subject: Oil and gas regulations

To the Elbert County Board of County Commissioners:

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.

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.  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  Commission, and are withdrawing them.

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

Further, we recognize that Elbert County as with most other governmental entities across the country is in a financially precarious position.  Adding the regulatory purview  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.  How many new employees will Miller be able to add to his department if these regulations with resultant enforcement are adopted?  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!

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?!

Sincerely yours,

Marvin O. Maul
Colorado Springs, CO

Problems with the 07-2011 Draft Oil & Gas Regs proposed for Elbert County Zoning

Page 5:  “…unless approval has been granted pursuant to these regulations from the Director of Community & Development Services (C&DS) or the Board of County Commissioners (Board).”
Are we setting up an unelected czar of oil and gas zoning enforcement, unaccountable to the voters?

Page 6:  “the County Attorney or where the Board deems it appropriate, the District Attorney……may [act]”
Here again, should enforcement of zoning be allowed without the approval of an elected official?

Page 21:  “Safety practices in accordance with state and federal law, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970….”
Elbert County should not be in the business of enforcing federal OSHA law.

Page 23:  “The oil and gas facility shall not cause significant degradation of wildlife, including any federal, state or Colorado Natural Heritage Program-identified species of concern, or to their habitat.  At a minimum, the operation shall comply with the CDOW’s recommended…..”
The CDOW, Colorado and the federal government can enforce their own wildlife regulations.  Elbert County does not need to duplicate those efforts.

Page 23:  “When planning facilities, the Applicant shall consult and reference the current wildlife concurrence data, including the CDOW’s Natural Diversity Information Source database…”
Bio-diversity is buzzword science with no greater purpose than stopping development.  It has no place in industry zoning regulations.

Page 25:  “install wildlife crossovers and escape ramps where the trench crosses well-defined game trails”
Presumably this would be for the really smart or well trained wild game, who know how to use such devices.

Page 26:  “The applicant shall identify the proposed source of fresh or potable water required for the oil and gas facility and dust control, along with a letter from the Colorado Division of Water Resources or a copy of the Water Court decree indicating that the water supply source is acceptable for the use at the oil and gas facility.”
Here again, water regulation falls outside of Elbert County’s jurisdiction.  It’s a matter for the State Engineer.

Page 37:  “the right of the county to determine land uses”
Isn’t it the people’s right to determine land use within allowed limits?  I thought government in America was based on limitations, not rights.

Page 39:  “No oil and gas facilities shall cause a reduction in solar radiation…”
Isn’t it a reach to blame the existence or absence of solar radiation on an oil well?

Page 39:  “Greenhouse Gas Reduction”
Zoning regulations should not incorporate the spurious science of global warming language.

Page 40:  “The county finds that the standard industry practice of injecting highly toxic substances under high pressure into the earth for the purpose of fracturing geologic formations poses an unacceptable risk of polluting these invaluable ground water resources.”
This statement ascribes a harmful intent to the oil and gas industry as a “standard practice.”  The statement is prejudicial, unfounded, and not conducive to sound science or good industry relations.

If the Community and Development Services department needs a toxic blend to regulate, look to the toxic combination of subjects below under which this post is filed.

Re: Draft Elbert County Oil and Gas regulations (currently in rewrite):

Section 26.2(B)(1)(i)(2)(d)

“In the event the Applicant fails to mail a notice to an abutting landowner or otherwise fails to comply with the written notice required in this section, the landowner who did not receive such complying notice may waive such notice by submitting a written waiver to the Director prior to the hearing.”

In other words, if you don’t know what’s going on, you have the right to waive, with proper written submittal to the county lords, knowing about what you don’t know.

Thank God we have planners to protect our interests.

Snake oil
Pipeline plan puts Ark Valley at crossroads
Rancher urges better analysis of ag water
Officials skeptical of GP Water claims
Granada farmer: Pipeline plan hurts area

Kudos to the Elbert County Sun and the Ranchland News for good investigative reporting.  Wish it had come a week sooner to inform the audience at the Nyquist dog and pony last night at Legacy Academy in Wild Pointe.  (click below to enlarge)

Sounds like the Imelda Marcos Shoe Museum during an earthquake.