The Colorado Supreme Court agreed to review a ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals that held that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) had incorrectly concluded that it lacked statutory authority to undertake a proposed rulemaking sought by six children. The children submitted a rulemaking petition in 2013 asking COGCC to promulgate a rule “to suspend the issuance of permits that allow hydraulic fracturing until it can be done without adversely impacting human health and safety and without impairing Colorado’s atmospheric resource and climate system, water, soil, wildlife, other biological resources.” A district court affirmed COGCC’s denial of the petition, but the Court of Appeals rejected COGCC’s assertion that the requested rule was beyond the limited authority conferred by the Oil and Gas Conservation Act. The Court of Appeals concluded that the Act mandated that oil and gas development “be regulated subject to the protection of public health, safety, and welfare, including protection of the environment and wildlife resources.” The Colorado Supreme Court granted petitions for writ of certiorari filed by COGCC and American Petroleum Institute and Colorado Petroleum Association. The court said it would consider the issue of “[w]hether the court of appeals erred in determining that the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission misinterpreted section 34-60-102(1)(a)(I), C.R.S. as requiring a balance between oil and gas development and public health, safety, and welfare.”

Rulemaking petition and subsequent litigation seeking to require Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to deny drilling permits unless they would not adversely impact human health and the environment or contribute to climate change.

Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission v. Martinez

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Colorado Supreme Court Agreed to Consider Whether Oil and Gas Commission Correctly Interpreted State Law in Denying Kids’ Rulemaking Petition

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.