BOULDER — Boulder County intends to adopt local land-use controls over oil and gas exploration that are as protective of the environment and the public’s health and safety as is legally possible, county commissioners said Thursday.

In crafting those regulations, however, Boulder County has to navigate between public expectations — particularly those of people wanting the county to prohibit the use of hydraulic fracturing –and the county’s currently limited legal authority to adopt any rules that would substantially conflict with federal and state laws and regulations about oil and gas development, according to Commissioner Will Toor.

Longmont’s new voter-approved ban on fracking within its city limits represents a substantial public sentiment for banning fracking throughout Boulder County, Toor said during the commissioners’ Thursday morning review of the latest draft of a proposed update of the county Land Use Code’s 20-year-old provisions about oil and gas drilling in unincorporated portions of the county.

The anti-fracking sentiment has generated scores of letters and public-hearing appeals to the county, including many over the past week that have called on the county to follow Longmont’s lead.

But Toor said Longmont’s ban is unlikely to be upheld in court. He said that under current state law, and based on prior court decisions, a Boulder County ban on fracking outside the county’s cities and towns probably also would not be upheld.

Despite many residents’ demands that Boulder County impose such a prohibition on the process of injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits, Toor said he believes that “we simply do not have that legal option.”

Commissioner Cindy Domenico, chairwoman of the county board, said of the people urging a county ban: “We understand where they’re coming from.”

Toor also suggested, though, that Longmont’s passage of its fracking ban should send a signal to state elected officials and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission about the public’s dissatisfaction with current state regulations about oil and gas drilling practices. Domenico encouraged people to talk to state lawmakers about those concerns.

Domenico, Toor and Commissioner Deb Gardner said they thought Boulder County is generally on the right track toward protecting the public and the environment from possible impacts of oil and gas exploration, with the still-being-developed regulations that have been suggested by the county staff, consultants, and the County Planning Commission — regulations the commissioners are to resume reviewing during meetings in December.

Gardner said it’s her responsibility as a commissioner “to protect the health and safety of all of our constituents who live in Boulder County,” and that it’s important for the county to put its new regulations in place as soon as possible to replace the obsolete land-use rules currently on the county’s books.

County commissioners have thus far resisted appeals to tack another year or more onto a current moratorium on new oil and gas applications which is set to expire Feb. 4. They’ve gotten legal advice that the oil and gas industry might argue that a substantially longer moratorium would amount to a drilling ban and could challenge it in court.

On Thursday, however, the commissioners left the door open to adding at least a short period to the current moratorium, if it turns out that Boulder County needs the additional time to train its staff in reviewing and processing applications under the new regulations and to set up the procedures for monitoring whether oil and gas operators are complying with those rules.

John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.