That’s why Frederick Mayor Tracie Crites is looking for ways to hold oil and gas companies accountable for cleaning up after themselves.
“The whole intent of the financial assurance rulemaking was to make sure that industry is taking care of itself, and that the liability doesn't fall on taxpayers,” said Kait Schwartz, who represents the industry as president of the American Petroleum Institute’s Colorado chapter. “I'm really hopeful that it becomes kind of a blueprint for the rest of the country."Commissioners were meant to decide how much to collect in bonds from the company K.P. Kauffman.
"It's a small, small, minute amount to an oil and gas company, but it's everything to the town of Frederick,” Crites said. “We do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate spills, to plug in abandoned wells and to set our community up for safety and economic development in the future.” Last month, a judge agreed to stay the state’s order until the company’s lawsuit is heard. That’s left towns like Frederick waiting for clean-up.