Boulder District Judge Norma Sierra granted the two industry trade organizations’ joint motion to intervene in the attorney general’s Feb. 14 lawsuit challenging the legality of the county’s moratorium and asking the court to order that it no longer be enforced.
Boulder County, which has argued that its moratorium is legal and was needed to be able to complete updates to the county’s oil and gas regulations, did not object. The county has until March 7 to file a formal response to Coffman’s lawsuit.
Boulder County’s moratorium on accepting and processing new applications for oil and gas development within unincorporated parts of the county — the latest in a series of consecutive moratoriums the county has had in place since February 2012 — is set to expire May 1.
Boulder County commissioners issued a Monday evening statement about the trade groups’ intervention, saying: “It is not surprising that the oil and gas industry has involved itself with this lawsuit. It is further evidence that the state is pursuing the interests of the oil and gas industry over the interests of Colorado citizens who will be adversely affected by the mega-drilling facilities that are being proposed throughout the state.”
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