Amended Bill Would Prohibit Cities and Towns from ‘Effectively’ Banning Oil and Gas Activities

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

Demonstrators outside the Norman City Hall before a city council committee met to discuss changes to oil and gas drilling rules.

A proposed amendment to legislation limiting the power local governments have to regulate oil and gas operations expands the bill’s language to prevent cities and towns from enacting rules “effectively” banning drilling, fracking and related activities.

House Bill 2178 was authored by Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, who also wrote the amendment. I’ve highlighted the proposed changes below:

Original » A municipality, county, or other political subdivision may also establish setbacks and fencing requirements for oil and gas well site locations as are reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens, but may not otherwise regulate, prohibit, or ban any oil and gas operations, including oil and gas exploration, drilling, fracture stimulation, completion, production, maintenance, plugging and abandonment, produced water disposal, or secondary recovery operations. Such operations shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and regulation of the Corporation Commission.

Amended » A municipality, county, or other political subdivision may also establish reasonable setbacks and fencing requirements for oil and gas well site locations as are reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens, but may not effectively prohibit or ban any oil and gas operations, including oil and gas exploration, drilling, fracture stimulation, completion, production, maintenance, plugging and abandonment, produced water disposal, or secondary recovery operations, flow and gathering lines or pipeline infrastructure. All other regulation of oil and gas operations shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Corporation Commission.

HB 2178 is one of eight “local control” bills under consideration by the 2015 Legislature; Hickman has co-authored a similar measure, Senate Bill 809, in the Oklahoma Senate. The bills were filed as residents in communities like Norman, Oklahoma City and Stillwater push for stricter local rules on drilling, fracking and other oil and gas activities.

The State Chamber is urging lawmakers to approve HB 2178 and generally supports such legislation. Some local officials, however, oppose the bills. In a February interview with StateImpact, Stillwater city Counselor Gina Noble said she’s against any legislation that limits municipal rule-making authority.

In a committee hearing on the original bill, Hickman told lawmakers that because oil and gas royalties and the energy industry are of “statewide” importance, regulation beyond zoning should should be under the authority of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Hickman told lawmakers the bill preserves the ability municipalities have in establishing “reasonable” zoning rules, like those that address issues like traffic, noise and odors. Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, questioned the definition of reasonable, and who would make that determination.

Hickman’s proposed amendment adds an additional “reasonable” qualification to municipally enacted setbacks, adds pipelines and other lines to the list of oil and gas-related activities, and clarifies that all other oil and gas regulation is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Corporation Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator.

Speaker Hickman and his office have not granted StateImpact’s request for an interview.