New oil and gas director appointed

Published on December 31, 2024

The Weld County Oil and Gas Energy Department (OGED) has new leadership. Monday, the Weld County Board of Commissioners officially appointed Brett Cavanagh as the new director of the department. Cavanagh replaces Jason Maxey, who will serve as Weld County Commissioner for District 1 beginning in January.

“I’m excited to have Brett on board. We were looking for a director who would continue to look for ways to make our permitting processes efficient and effective while helping to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the public,” said Kevin Ross, Weld County Commissioner Chair. “We believe Brett’s experience in the private sector in many different roles makes him well-suited to meet those goals.”

It’s experience that includes more than 16 years working in the oil and gas industry, serving in land management, transmission management and project management for a number of different energy companies, most recently for Western Midstream — formerly Anadarko — and Bear Peak Power LLC in their Denver locations, before joining Weld County. Beyond bringing leadership and management experience to the role of OGED director, Cavanagh also brings a familiarity with the county’s oil and gas location assessment process and its location assessment for pipelines process — knowledge he believes will be helpful in ensuring both remain efficient moving forward.

“Being able to see how the county’s permitting process impacts companies is beneficial — to understand how it impacts companies from a planning and financial perspective. It’s allowed me to see if and where our processes can be improved,” Cavanagh said.

Although officially appointed on Monday, Cavanagh’s first day with the county was Oct. 1. Since being hired, he’s worked alongside Maxey to transition to the new role, becoming familiar with the various administrative duties required of the OGED director as well as the history of the department, which opened in August of 2019 following the board’s acceptance of 1041 Authority, which gave the county local control over mineral resources in unincorporated Weld County. Cavanagh also drafted a letter to the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) on behalf of the OGED on Dec. 2.

“It’s a passion of mine,” Cavanagh said of the energy industry, before mentioning what he’s most looking forward to as OGED director. “I’m looking forward to building relationships with both the industry and ECMC to improve transparency and collaboration, both of which are key to an important industry in Weld County.”