Arapahoe County, which has some of the strictest oil and gas regulations in the state, on Tuesday approved additional regulations, notably setting aside money for plugging wells or when they are abandoned.

The new amendments to the county’s oil and gas regulations came after a slew of regulations adopted last year that included requiring one-mile setbacks from existing and planned reservoirs, additional soil and water testing, wildland urban interface protections and fire code compliance on access roads.

On Tuesday, commissioners approved the following new amendments after hours of public comment: 

• Requiring financial assurance of $120,000 for each approved well on a pad to ensure funding to cover plugging, abandoning, and meeting the state’s requirement for site reclamation

• Requiring electric drilling and permanent production equipment when available

• Requiring air quality and water monitoring

• Creating a county inspection program to conduct site inspections in addition to those done by the Department of Public Health and Environment and the Energy and Carbon Management Commission

• Increasing setbacks from oil and gas facilities for new development from 250 feet to 3,000 feet, and increasing setbacks from plugged and abandoned oil wells abandoned in 2014 or later from 150 feet to 250 feet

• Prohibiting commercial injection well facilities for wastewater disposal to alleviate the risk of potential leaks 

“This process has been a pushing and pulling of emotions and science,” Commissioner Jeff Baker said. “There were compromises made on both sides. These new regulations will protect the health and safety of the residents of my district, and I take that seriously.”

Marsha Goldsmith Kamin, who led the opposition to fracking near the Aurora Reservoir, called the regulations “amazing” and thanked the commissioners for passing them.

“I know the county has worked hard on these new oil and gas regulations, but there’s still room for a little bit of improvement and rules that address the un-addressed issues,” she said.

Nathan Lyon, an Aurora resident, called the regulations a “band-aid solution,” saying he supports them but criticizing some of the implementation.

Specifically, Lyon honed in on the rule about setbacks. 

“If you’ve determined as a county that 3,000 feet is a safe distance from wells to homes … then why would you ever allow them to be closer than that distance?” he said. “The fact that a homeowner can sign away their rights to safety shouldn’t even be an option.”

State regulators recently approed the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan in the county. The plan is the culmination of a two-year effort by Civitas — a Colorado-based oil and gas company whose fields can be found across northern and central Colorado, as well as in New Mexico and Texas — to obtain approval to develop the area for oil and gas drilling.

Activists and residents who live close to the proposed drilling sites earlier said they are worried about the operations’ impacts.