Memoranda of understanding and the social licence to operate in Colorado’s unconventional energy industry: a study of citizen complaints

Abstract

As growth in unconventional energy production has brought oil and gas development closer to Colorado’s Front Range communities, a desire for more local control over that development has resulted in bans and moratoria in a few communities. Memoranda of understanding (MOUs), signed between local governments and industry operators, are emerging as a policy tool to allow development to proceed while addressing the concerns of local communities. This study analyses how MOUs shape public opinion of unconventional energy production by comparing two communities on the northern edge of the Denver metropolitan area: Erie, which instituted one of the state’s first MOUs in 2012, and nearby Firestone, which does not have MOUs in place. Analysing complaints made to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission suggests that the MOUs narrow the breadth of citizen complaints and increase citizen engagement with state governing bodies. Finally, we find that the most significant predictor of complaint volume is encroachment of drilling activities close to communities.