Agency uses drones to monitor gas patches

Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff are turning to the use of drones to bolster field inspection, reclamation and environmental protection work. Ten staff members have received training on U.S. Federal Aviation Administration rules and received certification from that agency as remote pilots for drones, according to the agency's Dec. 17 staff report. They plan to take steps including developing standard operating procedures and working on specifications and costs for buying drones. It said in its report that it also has been working with a major oil and gas company operating in the Denver-Julesburg Basin "to cross check state standards and site access protocols." "This is fantastic news," Grand Junction ecologist and reclamation consultant Rich Alward, who previously served on the oil and gas commission, said of the agency's foray into the use of drones in its work...MORE