El Paso County commissioners and Colorado Springs City Council members will get a present Tuesday from local oil and gas industry opponent, Mary Talbott.

She plans to hand them a copy of “Split Estate,” a 75-minute DVD about drilling issues in Rifle, Colo. The documentary looks at problems that emerge when surface owners don’t own the mineral rights beneath their properties, as is the law in Colorado.

Talbott says she’ll also give a copy to county public health department officials to watch.

Her goal? That the video might influence how local officials handle local regulations for the industry.

The county’s draft land use regulations for oil and gas activity are published on the county’s web site, www.elpasoco.com. Public comments are being accepted through next Monday, Nov. 28. Commissioners plan to adopt regulations by the end of January.

The city of Colorado Springs has a group looking into what to do about regulating the industry on the local level.

As interest in energy development along the Front Range intensifies, so does the concern of citizens. Last week, commissioners in Huerfano County unanimously adopted new oil and gas regulations, after what was described as a “boisterous” public hearing in which dozens of residents said the regulations don’t go far enough to protect them from the harmful effects of drilling.