State continues overhaul of oil, gas rules State regulators headed toward the final stretch of work on new oil and gas rules as they prepared to grapple with ways to protect the state’s wildlife and manage drilling waste pits amid Colorado’s natural gas boom. Those were among the issues on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s agenda Monday and Tuesday. The panel has given preliminary approval to dozens of new regulations since August and is expected to take final votes in October on the state’s most comprehensive rewrite of rules for the industry since drilling rates started breaking records. Small groups will report back after trying to unravel disagreements on a few topics, such as reclamation, overlap of local and state regulations and the size of buffers between houses and wells. Also still hanging is the standoff between the state and Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management on whether the state rules would apply to federal land. The BLM says “no.” The commission says “yes,” citing states’ rights to oversee wildlife, air and water quality. Both sides say they’ll keep talking....