Furthermore, subsurface rights often are separated into specific minerals, such as gold, coal or oil, and then can be split among several owners, leaving surface owners having to notify hundreds of people, he said. Such a search could cost thousands of dollars, he said. Still, Walcher said the bills will go a long way toward fixing what s wrong with current law. He also denounced Sen. Jim Dyer s, D-Durango, attempt to limit industry ties to the state panel that oversees oil and gas development. Dyer, who is the Senate sponsor for the three House bills approved Wednesday, introduced a measure of his own to ban all seven members of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from being employed by the industry.
Current law allows or five to work for oil and gas companies.
That measure, Senate Bill 103, reduced the number of commissioners that may come from the industry from the oil and gas industry from five to four. It was approved in a Senate committee on Tuesday and awaits its first vote by the full Senate. It has no House sponsor. You can t solve the problem any other way. Contents copyright 2001, the Durango Herald.