The state commission that regulates Colorado’s oil and gas industry this week adopted its first rules for geothermal drilling, taking another step toward fulfilling a broader mandate given to it as part of a legislative reorganization of the agency last year. But regulators and experts caution that a “boom” in the new technology is not yet on the cards.
The Energy and Carbon Management Commission was formerly known as the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission until lawmakers renamed it in 2023. With the name change came new authority to regulate emerging industries such as carbon capture and so-called deep geothermal energy.
The ECMC unanimously approved its deep geothermal energy rules on Monday, 5-0. The 59-page amendment to the agency’s rulebook outlines permitting and enforcement procedures that are largely similar to those for oil and gas exploration. It gives the commission the authority to grant or deny permits to protect health and safety and ensures that local governments have a say in the process.
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While existing technologies such as heat pumps require drilling hundreds of meters deep into geothermal energy to heat and cool homes and even entire neighborhoods, the deep geothermal industry aims to power the electricity grid by drilling thousands of meters deep into much hotter areas of the Earth’s crust. So far, the application of deep geothermal technology has been limited by a number of factors, but some experts point to its potential to serve as a “baseload” source of clean energy, smoothing out the fluctuations in renewables such as wind and solar.
Governor Jared Polis, who has touted the potential of geothermal energy in his “Heat Beneath Our Feet” initiative, said in a statement Monday that with the ECMC’s new rules, the state is “ready to embrace this clean, renewable energy source.”
The West is convinced of geothermal energy as a way to achieve its clean energy goals
“Colorado has incredibly low-cost renewable energy sources like geothermal that can help reduce emissions and save Coloradans money,” Polis said. “Geothermal energy can play an essential role in providing energy to Coloradans and will help future generations.”
The feasibility of exploiting deep geothermal resources can vary widely depending on local geology. A study released last month by the ECMC, the Colorado Geological Survey and Atlanta-based energy company Teverra analyzed “geothermal exploitation opportunities” and concluded that the Piceance Basin north of Grand Junction, the Raton Basin near Trinidad and a “local hotspot” along the Colorado-Kansas border are the state’s most promising sites.
Colorado Communities for Climate Action, a coalition of 43 local governments supporting clean energy policies, said the rules adopted by the ECMC represented an “impressive balance.”
“Local governments are optimistic about the role of deep geothermal energy in efficiently decarbonizing Colorado’s power grid,” said Emma Pinter, Adams County Commissioner and vice president of Colorado Communities for Climate Action, in a statement. “But we must ensure this new technology benefits all Coloradans and their environment while avoiding the harms we have seen in oil and gas production and other extractive industries.”
“Despite their promise as a clean energy source, (deep geothermal operations) will have some negative impacts, the extent of which we do not yet know, and it is important to recognize that,” Kate Burke, assistant district attorney for Boulder County, told commissioners last week in a legislative hearing. “The net impacts … should be less than oil and gas, and in some cases the extent may be less, but that does not mean there will not be an impact on the people, plants and animals that live near the facilities.”
Geothermal Rising, a trade group that represents geothermal companies, was “very pleased with the outcome of the draft rule,” Matt Lepore, an attorney for the group, told commission members on Monday. Lepore is a former agency chair who retired in 2018 and has represented the oil and gas industry in commission proceedings since then.
Environmental groups have urged the ECMC to launch a second geothermal legislation process to work out regulations before production ramps up. Commissioner Brett Ackerman, a former Colorado Parks and Wildlife official, said before Monday’s vote that it was important not to “hamper” the industry at an early stage, but that the agency should “appropriately consider future concerns and opportunities as they arise.”
“I agree that it is highly unlikely that there will be a boom in deep geothermal energy,” said Ackerman. “We are more in the pilot phase.”
