This week, after 20 years of grassroots organizing with impacted landowners and everyday folks across Western Colorado, Western Colorado Alliance and our allies won precedent-setting rules to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of all Coloradans from the impacts of oil and gas development.

On Monday, in a historic decision, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) gave preliminary approval for new rules that will:

These rules are not perfect, but taken together, they are a giant step forward in our decades-long effort to reform oil and gas development in Colorado. This victory is only possible because of members like you, who have spent countless hours in meetings, writing comments, giving testimony, and working on the ground to demand change.

But the work is not done yet. As mandated by law, all of the COGCC’s rules must be re-written under their new mandate to first protect public health and safety, and the environment, in oil and gas permitting. We are still working through hundreds of rules that need to be updated and we have weeks of hearings before the final vote is taken in November.

Our opposition isn’t letting up. Garfield County alone is spending $1.5-million to gut these rules and prevent them from going into effect in Western Colorado. We have to keep organizing to ensure these rules protect all Coloradans equally.

Thanks to you, we are winning real, tangible reform that will improve the lives of Western Coloradans. And we still need your help to get us across the finish line. Help us stay strong through this process and please consider making a donation today.

This victory shows us that grassroots organizing for the long haul works. It has taken us many years to get here, and there is more work ahead, but our Alliance is committed and will keep organizing for healthy, just, and self-reliant communities across Western Colorado.