The Intermountain Oil and Gas Best Management Practices Project database and website were created by the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and Environment at Colorado Law. The project is maintained through grants and in conjunction with the CU Boulder Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering and the Colorado School of Public Health.

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are mitigation measures applied to areas being developed for oil and gas to promote energy development in an environmentally sensitive manner. The website provides a searchable database addressing surface resources affected by oil and gas development. The database includes both mandatory and voluntary Best Management Practices currently in use or recommended for responsible resource management in the states of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The project website includes resource pages on development issues and controversies as well as case studies of industry efforts to minimize environmental impacts. A community page illustrates community-industry efforts to negotiate, rather than litigate the best options for rational development. Law and Policy pages provide summaries and links to federal, Indian, state and local law within the five-state region. 

Law Atlas, a comparative law database, compares law and regulation in oil and gas development areas across the country; choose Environmental Health under topics.

The BMP project helps stakeholders identify appropriate practices for minimizing impacts to surface resources during planning, design, construction, drilling, operations, reclamation, and monitoring. BMP Project resources can also help stakeholders learn to work together to fuel the country’s energy requirements and address the economic needs of communities without sacrificing the quality of their environment.

See the project’s Memorandum of Understanding webpage for resources on Local Government – Operator MOUs.

See the Source Water Protection Guide for resources on drinking water protection.

• Best Management Practices Database

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  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  Ongoing

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  Not Applicable