Colorado's governor said he didn't want to appeal a controversial oil-and-gas ruling. The AG did it

Colorado’s governor said he didn’t want to appeal a controversial oil-and-gas ruling. The attorney general did it anyway.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman bucked the apparent wishes of Gov. John Hickenlooper by appealing a court ruling that could dramatically change the way Colorado regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

Hickenlooper isn’t challenging her decision.

The ruling in the case of Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission pivots on whether Colorado should put public health first when considering oil and gas development rather than trying to strike a balance between oil and gas interests and public health, safety and welfare.

In a last-minute appeal filed Thursday to the Colorado Supreme Court, Coffman’s office asserted the COGCC, which regulates the industry, has an original mission of “fostering oil and gas development.” The commission has interpreted state laws governing it in a way that does not permit “one policy concern to override all others,” the AG’s office wrote.

Read more: http://www.coloradoindependent.com/165520/coffman-cogcc-appeal-martinez-colorado