The Daily Sentinel: An attorney representing a Garfield County citizens group says the five-member Colorado Oil and Gas Commission failed to follow state law when it visited energy sites in the region in private rather than letting the public attend.

Steven Zansberg, an attorney who long has worked on media and First Amendment issues in Colorado, is taking issue with a state assistant attorney general’s contention that the commission was properly following the state’s open-meeting law in participating in the private visits.

The oil and gas commission determined it needed to post public notice of the meetings and, as a result, it only could bar the public from any portion of the meeting that qualifies for an executive, or closed-door, session, Zansberg said Thursday in a letter to Lauren Mercer, the state attorney representing the commission.

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