The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission angered environmentalists as well as industry interests recently when it issued a proposed set of new rules regarding the minimum distances between oil rigs and residences and other buildings.

A more dispassionate analysis, however, leaves it clear that the state agency that oversees the oil and gas business deserves a round of applause for striking the right balance between warring parties.

No one got exactly what they wanted out of the process, but the bottom line is that bigger buffers between industrial activity spewing toxic emissions of all sorts and homes filled with humans can’t be a terribly bad outcome.

The regulators — launching last fall into an effort to update rules spelled out in 2008 as the drilling boom picked up steam — knew they would be contending with intense pressure from all sides.

“We want to get it right, as best as we can, for as many people as we can,” commission director Matt Lepore said at the time.

There was really hardly any chance of making everyone happy. In the end, industry got off relatively easy, because the regulators could have gone much further.

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