The Parker News reports that interest in drilling oil from the Niobrara oil formation that reaches under Douglas County prompted local government agencies to begin the process of drafting regulations for oil industry operations.

Parker is the first among Douglas County agencies to adopt regulations for oil and gas drilling. Parker Town Council on July 18 approved on second reading its new use by special review requirements for oil and gas operations in town limits.

The regulations were drafted in response to inquiries in mid-March from oil and gas operators to lease town property on the Norton Farms open space parcel north of Cottonwood for the possible drilling of oil and gas, said Elise Penington, Parker community affairs director.

Douglas County in early June received its first inquiry for drilling operations in unincorporated Douglas County on a parcel of land south of Wolfensberger Road and just west of the Castle Rock town boundary. Castle Rock reported an inquiry for drilling operations on the Hazen/Moore property on Front Street, south of Blackfeather and the Metzler Park area, said Bill Detweiler, Castle Rock director of development services. MORE …

A legal battle is shaping up between the city of Colorado Springs and the Houston company that wants to drill for oil and gas on the Banning Lewis Ranch.

Ultra Resources, a subsidiary of Ultra Petroleum, was one of two winning bidders at a June auction of the 21,500-acre ranch, whose owners sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Ultra’s $26.25 million bid needs a bankruptcy judge’s approval and the company then must finalize its purchase, steps that might not be completed until Sept. 30.

Upon being named winning bidder for 18,000 acres of the ranch, Ultra declared its intent to drill for oil and gas on the property — in sharp contrast to the homes, shopping centers and other residential and commercial development that have been envisioned since Colorado Springs annexed the ranch in September 1988. The sprawling property makes up much of the city’s east side. MORE …

EnCana Oil and Gas (USA) wants to put a new natural gas gathering facility on company-owned property 20 miles northwest of Parachute on the West Slope.

The firm has applied to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) for a permit, and the CDPHE has opened the application process up for public comment.

The new facility, identical to one already in operation nearby on the 45,000-acre North Parachute Ranch, would use engine-powered pumps to gather the contents of gas lines from various wells and move it to processing facilities. A set of generators now being used to run the existing facility would be taken off line and removed once the new equipment is set up and running, said EnCana spokesman Doug Hock. MORE …

From Bloomberg … Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the extraction of natural gas from rock thousands of feet below ground, is the latest point of strain in the energy-versus- environment tug of war. We side with those who focus on the technique’s promise.

As long as the wells and wastewater pits are carefully built and maintained, fracking can be a relatively clean and safe way to obtain natural gas. Because natural gas can reduce U.S. consumption of crude oil and coal, it can lessen dependence on Mideast oil and significantly reduce greenhouse gases and acid rain.

The U.S. possesses an estimated 827 trillion cubic feet of gas available for extraction from rock, enough to meet current natural gas consumption for 35 years. The U.S. uses about 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year, mostly for electricity production and home heating, but cars and trucks, the biggest consumers of oil, could also be configured to run on natural gas. MORE …

Denver-based Antero Resources, the company revealed to be disposing of oil and gas drilling waste in Eagle County in a Colorado Independent exclusive earlier this month, is now being hit with more legal action stemming from its natural gas drilling activities in neighboring Garfield County.

According to the Glenwood Post Independent, the Aspen law firm of Thomas Genshaft filed a class-action lawsuit against Antero on behalf of the 5,000 residents of the Battlement Mesa subdivision, an unincorporated community along Interstate 70 in Garfield County.

The suit, which names six specific Battlement Mesa residents as plaintiffs, seeks a jury trial and alleges Antero’s current and future drilling activities “threaten the health and well being” of the residents of the former Exxon oil shale company town turned retirement community. MORE …