The bill enacts the "Water Rights Protection Act", under which the Colorado oil and gas conservation commission (commission) must establish rules for:
Hydraulic fracturing near radioactive materials and siteslisted on the national priority list pursuant to the federal "superfund" law; and
The shut-down of hydraulic fracturing operations whenmonitoring equipment detects a pressure drop.
Oil and gas operators must submit water quantity reports showing projected and actual sources and amounts of water needed for hydraulically fracturing a well. Operators must also submit pre- and post-fracturing water quality reports for all active water wells located within .5 mile of oil and gas wells that will be or have been hydraulically
fractured. This information will be posted on the commission's web site.
Operators cannot inject into the ground any chemical compound that would cause cancer.
In addition to existing financial assurances, each operator that engages in a high-risk hydraulic fracturing treatment must take out an environmental bond that would be forfeited if the operator's operations cause any damage to water rights.
Subject to listed affirmative defenses, an operator is presumed to be responsible for the pollution of a water supply that is within .5 mile of a line between the well head and the surface projection of the bottom hole location of the well, if the pollution occurred within 6 months after the completion of the hydraulic fracturing of the well. Hydraulic fracturing would be prohibited within .5 mile of any surface water, including a pond, reservoir, or other natural or artificial impoundment or stream, ditch, or other artificial waterway, unless the operator uses a closed-loop system.
