2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 34 - MINERAL RESOURCES (§§ 34-1-100.5 — 34-70-101) › OIL AND NATURAL GAS (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-70-101) › CONSERVATION AND REGULATION (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-64-108) › Article 60 - OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-60-143) › Section 34-60-105 - Powers of commission

(1)
(a)
The commission has jurisdiction over all persons and property, public and private, necessary to enforce this article 60, the power to make and enforce rules and orders pursuant to this article 60, and to do whatever may reasonably be necessary to carry out this article 60.
(b)
Any delegation of authority to any other state officer, board, or commission to administer any other laws of this state relating to the conservation of oil or gas, or either of them, is rescinded and withdrawn, and that authority is unqualifiedly conferred upon the commission, as provided in this section; except that, as further specified in section
34-60-131
, nothing in this article 60 alters, impairs, or negates the authority of:
(I)
The air quality control commission to regulate, pursuant to article
7
of title
25
, the emission of air pollutants from oil and gas operations;
(II)
The water quality control commission to regulate, pursuant to article
8
of title
25
, the discharge of water pollutants from oil and gas operations;
(III)
The state board of health to regulate, pursuant to section
25-11-104
, the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials from oil and gas operations;
(IV)
The solid and hazardous waste commission to:
(A)
Regulate, pursuant to article
15
of title
25
, the disposal of hazardous waste from oil and gas operations; or
(B)
Regulate, pursuant to section
30-20-109
(1.5), the disposal of exploration and production waste from oil and gas operations; and
(V)
A local government to regulate energy and carbon management operations pursuant to section
29-20-104
.
(c)
Any person, or the attorney general on behalf of the state, may apply for a hearing before the commission, or the commission may initiate proceedings, upon any question relating to the administration of this article 60, and jurisdiction is conferred upon the commission to hear and determine the question and enter its rule or order with respect to the question.
(2)
Repealed.
(3)
The attorney general is the legal advisor of the commission, and it is his or her duty to represent the commission in all court proceedings and in all proceedings before it and in any proceedings to which the commission may be a party before any department of the federal government.
(4)
(a)
Except as specified in subsection (4)(b) of this section, nothing in this article 60 authorizes the state or its local governments, including the commission, boards of county commissioners, and municipalities, to regulate the activities of:
(I)
Federally recognized Indian tribes, their political subdivisions, or tribally controlled affiliates, undertaken or to be undertaken with respect to mineral evaluation, exploration, or development or energy and carbon management operations on lands within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation located within the state; or
(II)
Third parties, undertaken or to be undertaken with respect to mineral evaluation, exploration, or development or energy and carbon management operations on Indian trust lands within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation located within the state.
(b)
Regulation by the state or its local governments, including the commission, boards of county commissioners, and municipalities, applicable to non-Indians conducting oil and gas operations on lands within the exterior boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian reservation may apply to lands where both the surface and the oil and gas estates are owned in fee by a person other than the Southern Ute Indian tribe, regardless of whether the lands are communitized or pooled with Indian mineral lands.
(c)
Nothing in this article 60 alters the authority for the regulation of air pollution on the Southern Ute Indian reservation as set forth in article
62
of title
24
and part 13 of article
7
of title
25
.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 216,§ 3, eff. 5/21/2024.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 120, §11, eff. 4/16/2019.
Amended by 2016 Ch. 94, §18, eff. 8/10/2016.
L. 51: p. 655, § 7. CSA: C. 118, § 68(7). CRS 53: § 100-6-5. C.R.S. 1963: § 100-6-5. L. 81: (2) repealed, p. 1690, § 3, effective May 21. L. 2016: (3) amended, (HB 16 -1094), ch. 268, p. 268, § 18, effective August 10. L. 2019: (1) amended and (4) added, (SB 19-181), ch. 511, p. 511, § 11, effective April 16.
Section 19 of chapter 120 (SB 19-181), Session Laws of Colorado 2019, provides that the act changing this section applies to conduct occurring on or after April 16, 2019, including determinations of applications pending on April 16, 2019.