Gov. Hickenlooper a bad example on oil-and-gas issues

May 24, 2013 by Leave a comment

**Cross-posted from The Hill**

By Ellynne Bannon

The cozy relationship between politicians and big business has been a fact of life in America since the days of the robber barons. Today, this affiliation is especially strong between certain governors and the oil and gas industry. And, the consequences could include drastic impacts on the health and safety of their constituents. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of Colorado’s Gov.  John Hickenlooper.

Given that Colorado is the epicenter of both the gas boom and the controversy over its impacts, the governor has become a leading national figure on oil and gas. Earlier this year, Hickenlooper appeared in front of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing and stated that he drank fracking fluid, implying that it’s safe. Shortly after, he was forced to clarify that what he drank isn’t actually used commercially, stating that: “I don’t think there’s any frack fluid right now that I’m aware of that people are using commercially that you want to drink.”

It turns out that this wasn’t the last time that the governor would go to bat for the oil-and-gas industry. In fact, Hickenlooper has mastered the rhetoric of a concerned elected official, while at the same time working to help his billion-dollar oil-and-gas industry boosters cheat the rules that protect public health and water.

While Hickenlooper has claimed he would increase fines and hold industry polluters accountable, behind closed doors he helped weaken and kill legislation aimed at doing just that.

Case in point: the governor recently announced, with great pomp and circumstance, an initiative to make Colorado the “the healthiest state,” and created a safe drinking water week. Days later, and with far less fanfare, he successfully gutted legislation to hold oil-and-gas companies accountable when they pollute Colorado communities and water.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. In January, Hickenlooper’s oil-and-gas commission put forth water testing rules criticized as weakest in the nation, which included the Anadarko-Noble loophole, a huge carve-out for two of the biggest oil-and-gas operators in Colorado.

The Anadarko-Noble loophole makes it easier for  billion-dollar oil-and-gas companies to pollute water in northern Colorado, an  area that’s home to some of the state’s most intense drilling and more than 25  percent of Colorado’s oil-and-gas wells. It’s also home to more than half of the most recent reported spills.

Hickenlooper’s lobbyists also worked to weaken fines for oil-and-gas companies guilty of polluting. They did this, despite the fact that Colorado already has lowest-in-the-nation fines and a well-documented problem with spills and water contamination.

In 2012, industry reported 402 spills in Colorado, 20 percent of which resulted in water contamination. Just six companies were responsible for more than 85 percent of all spills that contaminated water. Now, thanks to Hickenlooper’s efforts, these companies have even less incentive to stop polluting Colorado communities and water.

Hickenlooper has also rejected funding to increase the number of state oil-and-gas well inspectors. His Department of Natural Resources agency joined with the oil-and-gas industry to oppose additional resources to increase the number of inspectors – from 16 to 24 – for the state’s more than 52,000 wells.

The Hickenlooper administration also opposed reform efforts to increase transparency on the Colorado oil-and-gas commission. Oil-and-gas companies currently serve on the commission, which regulates their activities, posing serious concerns about conflicts of interest.

Finally, the Hickenlooper administration worked to block a public health study to see if fracking is making Coloradoans sick. Hickenlooper’s chief of public health and the environment, Dr. Chris Urbina, testified against the need for the study – which was supported by local residents and medical professionals.

Hickenlooper is, unfortunately, only one example of a state chief executive who seems to value his oil-and-gas donors over all others. New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Corbett and Utah’s Gov. Gary Herbert have all displayed similar tendencies. These elected officials need to be held accountable for their actions; they need to put the health and safety of their constituents ahead of the profits of the billion-dollar oil-and-gas industry.

Bannon is Western Lands and Energy Program Manager for the Checks and Balances Project.

Filed under Blog, Colorado, Fracking Tagged with , , , , ,

Big Oil’s API insatiable lust for taxpayer handouts continues; Industry group demands that U.S. double down on failed oil shale experiments

March 27, 2013 by Leave a comment

**UPDATE** API’s Erik Milito may want to check with Estonian Environment Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus before continuing to pressure President Obama to double down on costly oil shale speculation. In an article in today’s Postimees, Minister Pentus-Rosimannus said,

“Eighty percent of our waste, water use and greenhouse gas emissions are connected with the oil shale industry. We must think together how to reduce the negative impact. With that as bottom line, I do not consider it possible for the annual extraction volume of oil shale to grow in the future.”

Estonian oil shale giant Eesti Energia’s U.S. arm, Enefit, is one of the companies trying to develop oil shale in Utah. For more on that, see our recent series Eyes on Enefit.**UPDATE**

The American Petroleum Institute (API) – see: Big Oil – called on President Obama, today, to double down on a century of failed oil shale experiments and risk western water supplies.

API’s response to outgoing Interior Sec. Ken Salazar’s smart oil shale plan was shameless, but predictable (for more on the Salazar Plan, see articles in the SL Tribune, Denver Business Journal and an editorial in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel). Sec. Salazar adopted a reasonable approach that requires oil companies to prove any oil shale technology they might develop is commercially viable and won’t devastate water resources and air quality in the West.

The Government Accounting Office and industry experts have said oil shale could use up to 140 percent of what Denver Water provides its customers, today.

It turns out that common sense and good business practice aren’t slowing down API’s insatiable lust for taxpayer handouts. API wants to double down on 100 plus years of abject oil shale failure, despite the huge risks to the West’s scarce water supplies.

Erik Milito, API’s director of upstream and industry operations, claims that ensuring the safety of western water might delay investment in the development of oil shale technology. He ignores the fact that oil shale speculators have failed for over a century to develop any such technology, despite the billions in taxpayer subsidies – and private investments – already risked.

Western families, farmers, ranchers and business owners, already in year two of the worst drought in a decade, can’t afford to have any more of their water risked on costly oil shale speculation. We need President Obama to put the security and safety of the West’s water and communities before Big Oil’s hunger for more taxpayer handouts.

Filed under Blog, In The News, oil shale Tagged with , , , ,

Center for Western Priorities documentary series tells stories of drilling impacts on communities

January 8, 2013 by Leave a comment

The nonpartisan Center for Western Priorities (CWP) released its new LookWest interview series, today. According to a CWP release:

“Colorado communities struggling to balance their quality of life and local economies with industrial drilling and fracking operations are the focus of a new mini-documentary series by the Center for Western Priorities (CWP).”

The videos include interviews with residents and local business owners in Rifle and Paonia. People living in the Western Slope community of Rifle already have drilling in their midst, and are experiencing air and water challenges, explosions and truck traffic that make some of them wish they’d never moved there.

Farmers, ranchers and local business owners in Paonia talk about Colorado BLM’s plans to make 20,000+ acres in their area available for oil and gas leasing. Agriculture is a staple of the North Fork Valley, and the farmers and ranchers are scared of the impact drilling will have on their livelihoods.

“It’s an unknown practice,” said Jeff Schwartz, a Paonia farmer. “The risk that we’ve learned, that I’ve learned, about around the country is that there is a high risk of water contamination, and that’s a high risk to my family making a living.” Schwartz continued, “Anything that threatens the safety of our food crops threatens everything we do.”

Watch the Rifle video.

Watch the Paonia video.

CWP says that LookWest will continue visiting western communities to give people affected by oil and gas drilling a platform to have their stories heard. The videos will on the CWP website (www.westernpriorities.org) and YouTube page.

Filed under Blog Tagged with , , ,

ICYMI: Denver City Council supports BLM’s smart approach to protect water from oil shale speculation

December 21, 2012 by Leave a comment

On Monday, the Denver City Council issued a proclamation supporting the “research first” approach to protect western water, taken by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) in its recently issued Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). By taking this action, Denver joined the list of communities throughout Colorado’s Front Range and West Slope that have publicly supported the BLM’s common sense, balanced approach to oil shale speculation. Local officials in these communities are particularly concerned about oil shale’s potential impact on the state’s already overstressed water supply.

denver_oil_shale_proclamationThe council rarely takes political positions but decided to weigh in on this important issue. The proclamation passed overwhelmingly, with a final vote of 8-2. The council explained that projections show Colorado’s water demands will increase 50 to 80 percent over the next 35 years. The Government Accountability Office reported that full-scale oil shale development could use as much as 140 percent of the water used by the Denver metro area alone.

“It is a responsibility for us as leaders on behalf of the constituents of Denver to express these concerns to ensure my grandchildren and their grandchildren have water to drink, take a bath in and cook with,” said Councilwoman Debbie Ortega.

“This is central to our business,” said Councilman Chris Nevitt. “We are not going too far out on a limb on a position that has been articulated by the Department of Natural Resources and Democratic and Republican governors alike.”

To date, oil companies have failed to find a commercially viable technology that converts oil shale rock into oil. Because of the uncertainty around what technology would be used for industrial-scale oil shale development, the impacts to water quantity and quality are unknown.

The BLM’s new PEIS sets aside 1,000 square miles of public land to conduct oil shale research and development. It also states that BLM will not grant commercial leases until “the lessee satisfies the conditions of its RD&D lease and meets all federal regulations for conversion to a commercial lease.” One of the most important conditions would be demonstrating the impact to both water quantity and quality.

Elected officials from cities and towns throughout Colorado have expressed their support of the BLM’s position.

Front Range officials sent a letter of support for the new PEIS to Sec. Ken Salazar:

“Oil shale development could pose significant risks to both water quantity and quality in the Colorado River watershed. As elected officials along the Front Range of Colorado – whose communities depend on water from the Colorado River Basin – we strongly believe it is essential that any final plan guiding the development of oil shale on our public lands, must first prioritize a thorough understanding of the potential impacts this industry would have on our water resources

Recently, the Front Range Water Users Council – which collectively meets the water demands of approximately 80% of Colorado’s population – requested that the BLM closely analyze the potential broad scale impacts of oil shale development before considering commercial leasing of public lands. We strongly agree, especially given that this year’s drought has severely strained our water supplies and there is no relief in sight. The drought underscores the fact that we cannot afford to take risks with our water and compromise Colorado’s farms and ranches, our world-class outdoor recreation economy, and our growing communities.”

West Slope officials also expressed their support for the PEIS in a letter:

“It is smart to require that research and development of oil shale and tar sands technologies be completed and the impacts analyzed before moving forward with a commercial leasing program.

Our public lands are enormous economic drivers in the Intermountain West. Tourism, recreation, hunting and fishing, ranching, and other industries provide billions of dollars of revenue and hundreds of thousands jobs throughout the three-state region.

The BLM has acknowledged in the Draft PEIS that the potential impacts of development on communities, water and air are largely unknown but potentially significant.

These lands are our heritage, and for many, our livelihoods. It is critical that we know more about the impacts of oil shale and tar sands development before putting communities, water and air at risk.”

Round up of local elected official’s expressions of support:

Denver City Council

Front Range local elected officials

Thornton letter (Denver suburb)

West Slope/mountains Colorado, Wyoming, Utah local elected officials

Town of Carbondale

Pitkin County

Routt County

City of Grand Junction

City of Rifle

Town of New Castle

Filed under Colorado, In The News, oil shale Tagged with , , , ,

Forget common sense and good business, CO BLM Director Hankins’ actions spur red tape, protests and public outcry

December 21, 2012 by Leave a comment

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that as oil and gas leasing on public lands increased in 2012, the number of protested leases declined.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case in Colorado. It’s just the opposite under Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Helen Hankins. In her state, lease protests have risen sharply and the number of developed leases declined.

protested_leases_table

— Source, The Wilderness Society’s Making the Grade report

Hankins has disregarded DOI’s leasing reforms and instead decided to auction drilling leases in places like the North Fork Valley, right next to farms and wineries, and next to Dinosaur National Monument. Her insistence on giving oil and gas companies whatever they ask for has created more red tape for industry, upset local communities, and, if the leases go through, could jeopardize local economies.

Some facts about Hankins’ tenure as Colorado’s BLM Director:

  • According to The Wilderness Society’s report, Making the Grade, in Colorado, 93 percent of parcels in lease sale notices were protested in CY 2012. The national average for protested leases was 12 percent, and no other western state exceeded 25 percent.
  • Dir. Hankins refuses to listen to the local community in North Fork.  Hankins is again planning to lease over 20,000 acres, relying on a resource management plan written in 1989, decades before the organic farms and vineyards that now drive the region’s economy were in place.
  • Dir. Hankins has repeatedly refused to use Master Leasing Plans (MLP), which allow for landscape-level analysis to determine drilling’s effects on air, water, land and wildlife. In South Park, Dir. Hankins has refused to conduct an MLP, despite the fact that Denver’s and Aurora ‘s watersheds are in close proximity to the potential lease sites.

Filed under Blog, Colorado Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Oil shale industry front group misleads public on support for radical oil shale plan

October 30, 2012 by Leave a comment

The industry front group, Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale (ECCOS) deliberately misled the public and trumped up support for a radical plan that puts our water and communities at risk from oil shale speculation. The group’s Executive Director Brad McCloud purposefully misrepresented stakeholder comments submitted on the Interior Department’s draft proposals for the research and development of oil shale. Today, the Checks and Balances Project released our factual analysis of the comments, which tells a far different story than what ECCOS claimed.

Earlier this month, Brad McCloud, Executive Director of ECCOS, stated that most of the stakeholder comments were in favor of the radical Bush-era plan at a press conference in Grand Junction, Colo. Unfortunately, it seems that Mesa County Commissioner Meis and the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce were used as props in an effort to put out more misinformation about oil shale. McCloud wrongly characterized the controversial plan developed under the Bush administration has having received the most support.

Our comprehensive audit of stakeholder comments to the Interior Department found:

    • 72 comments – or 51 percent – don’t support the Bush oil shale plan;
    • 52 comments – or 37 percent – support the Bush oil shale plan; and
    • 77 comments – or 55 percent – support the BLM’s approach, the BLM plan, a stronger conservation approach, or a “research and development” approach.

Ironically, it appears that ECCOS actually undercounted the number of supporters for the Bush-era plan while completely ignoring the fact that the majority of stakeholders actually don’t support it.

A closer look at ECCOS explains why McCloud so badly misrepresented the survey results.

The nonpartisan group SourceWatch has identified ECCOS, as a front group created by the Grand Junction-based energy lobbying firm EIS Solutions. Since ECCOS files with the I.R.S. as a 501(C)(4) organization, ECCOS doesn’t have to disclose its donors. However, its leadership and public record show strong ties to the oil industry.

For instance, Executive Director McCloud is also a project Manager for EIS Solutions, as was former Executive Director Curtis Moore. And, when Moore first set up ECCOS, he used his EIS email address to register the ECCOS website, as well as EIS Solutions corporate phone number and street address.

EIS Solutions is a significant player in Western oil and gas issues. Earlier this year, they released a report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute with trumped-up charges that public lands and water protections were too onerous for the oil and gas industry.

ECCOS spokespeople tend to follow oil shale’s century-old tradition of varying the story they tell about oil shale based on their audience. In their brochure, ECCOS claims oil shale is on the verge of economic viability right now, and the cost of oil shale production is approaching parity with conventional oil at today’s oil prices.

Yet in an open letter in late 2010, former Executive Director Curtis Moore wrote, “No one is proposing massive oil shale development today. That time — if it ever comes — is decades away.” And, on a separate occasion Mr. Moore admitted, “Oil shale may not yet be ready for prime time.”

McCloud also can’t keep the story straight on what ECCOS actually does.

ECCOS’s 2010 tax return – which McCloud was responsible for filing – listed among its itemized expenses $79,465 to attend, “local trade shows, service clubs, and classrooms to advocate environmentally responsible development of oil shale reserves.” (emphasis added) This seems disingenuous, since McCloud testified twice to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources that ECCOS is not an advocacy group.

Given their disregard for the truth, it would be interesting to know what kind of classroom ‘education’ on oil shale ECCOS has brought to Colorado schools.

That’s ECCOS’s staff leadership’s industry connections. Moving on to its board of directors we find Laura Nelson, the current Vice President of Energy and Environmental Development of Red Leaf Resources, an oil shale company based in Utah.

Families and business owners in the West are aware of the dangers that oil shale development could pose to our water. They want a responsible, common sense approach to determining whether or not oil shale will ever be a viable energy source. Since it is their water supplies, air and land that could be affected, their input should be thoughtfully considered, not spun by groups like ECCOS to try and help industry’s agenda.

Filed under Colorado, In The News Tagged with , , , ,

It’s DÉJÀ vu all over again – Oil-backed politicians hold conference call to push new handouts to oil companies

June 14, 2012 by Leave a comment

The House Majority leadership has declared it will bring a package of  “oil-above-all” bills to a vote next week. They’re calling the bills the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act (DEJA). We’re calling it the DÉJÀ VU bills, because it’s simply more of the same: Oil-sponsored politicians are trying to create new government handouts to their oil industry campaign contributors.

Today, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Natural Resources Chair Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) are getting on a blogger conference call at 11:30 AM EST to talk about the DÉJÀ VU bills. If you’re going to be on that call, we hope you’ll ask them a few questions, since we weren’t invited.

“It’s déjà vu all over again,” said Checks and Balances Co-Director Matt Garrington. “Chairman Hastings, Rep. Gardner and other oil-soaked politicians are trying to disguise new land giveaways to oil companies as job bills. If energy development on more land will create more jobs, why aren’t they trying to force oil company CEOs to use the 20-million acres that are leased to them and laying idle? It’s because oil company CEOs fill their reelection campaign accounts, and these congressmen are singing for their supper.”

  • Rep. Kevin McCarthy has taken $359,300 in oil and gas industry contributions.
  • Rep. Doc Hastings has taken $241,804 in oil and gas industry contributions.
  • Rep. Cory Gardner has taken $304,724 in oil and gas contributions.

*All amounts according to the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org)

Here are some facts about the DÉJÀ VU bills that McCarthy, Hastings and Gardner are probably hoping you overlooked:

Rep. Cory Gardner’s bill (H.R. 4480)

  • Attempts to increase the amount of land available to oil companies in a blatantly political fashion. The Gardner bill mandates that every time President Obama draws oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), that the BLM would have to lease an equal percentage of public lands to oil and gas companies. This throws any market-based approach to supply and demand on our public lands out the window. Rep. Gardner fails to call the oil companies to account for the tens of millions of acres currently leased and thousands of permits issued but not yet developed.

Rep. Doug Lamborn’s bill (H.R. 4383)

  • Assesses “a $5,000 documentation fee” on anyone from “the public” who wishes to formally object to a leasing or drilling decision. These decisions affect public lands that are owned by all Americans. In effect, the bill is the equivalent of someone telling you that it will cost you $5,000 just to object to drilling in your front yard.
  • Places limits on how judges are allowed to conduct judicial review. They would be forced to “presume” that initial decisions on leasing and drilling were “correct” and in most cases could only enjoin decisions for no more than sixty days.

Rep. Mike Coffman’s bill (H.R. 4382)

  • Puts the authority for deciding how much public land is available for drilling in the hands of the oil companies instead of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  Coffman’s bill does this by mandating that the BLM offer at least 25 percent of the area nominated for leasing by industry. In order to gain more land, oil companies simply would need to nominate more lands knowing that they’d be guaranteed at least a quarter of the total lands nominated. These are the same oil companies currently sitting on over 20 million acres of idle leases on public lands.
  • Rolls back the Salazar leasing reforms which provide a common sense approach to public lands management. This would prevent local government and other stakeholders from having a say up front in the leasing process and create more conflict on public lands. It would also remove common sense protections for air quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat by allowing oil companies to skirt scientific review prior to drilling. These reforms have been key in reducing conflict and creating more certainty for industry on how to proceed with a lease once it’s issued.

Rep. Scott Tipton’s bill (H.R. 4381)

  • Ignores the balanced land use approach that we’ve developed in Colorado, and instead mandates that energy development be the primary use of all public land. This leaves ranchers, outdoor recreation businesses, watershed protection, and hunting and fishing in the dust.
  • Disposes of the current “multiple-use” mandate under which most of the public lands are managed. Instead, the Secretary of the Interior would be mandated to “take all necessary actions” to reach an objective for energy development on public lands. That objective would be decided by Washington insiders and likely with undue oil industry input, instead of feedback from Coloradans.

We urge any bloggers on today’s conference call to question the congressmen on these points and see what they have to say. But if you get a little dizzy, don’t worry. You’re just feeling DÉJÀ VU.

Filed under Blog Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Could be a sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

June 8, 2012 by Leave a comment

Alan Prendergast at Westword tells the story of Rep. Jared Polis’ successful effort to stop a new $25 million giveaway for the failed energy source oil shale. And he starts it with the best headline we’ve ever seen: Jared Polis, zombie killer, dispatches undead oil shale subsidies

(Also, thanks for the shout out Alan)

Excerpt:

You might think that the idea of killing off an unnecessary subsidy for a technology that’s never been demonstrated to be commercially viable — or, for that matter, environmentally tolerable — would be a no-brainer. Shelling out public funds and tax breaks to well-heeled energy companies so they can rip up rocks and cook them, in the hope of producing a crude version of crude oil, just seems wrong. Especially if you’ve lived in Colorado long enough to remember Exxon’s abrupt pullout from its gung-ho pilot project on the Western Slope in 1982, which wiped out thousands of jobs overnight. (For a brief history of a century of dashed hopes about oil shale, check out this report from the Checks and Balances Project.)

Read Alan’s full story.

Filed under Blog Tagged with , , , , ,

Colorado politicians fast track new giveaways to donor oil companies

April 26, 2012 by Leave a comment

Matt Garrington, Denver-based co-director of The Checks and Balances Project, offered the following statement and facts regarding today’s hearing on Colorado House Republicans’ three bills to give away more of the West to the oil and gas industry: H.R. 4381, H.R. 4382 and H.R. 4383.

“Reps. Lamborn, Tipton and Coffman are doing a great job playing the Three Stooges for the oil and gas industry, but the American public isn’t laughing.

“Taking away the public’s right to participate in decisions about land we own is criminal. It’s clear that these representatives are working on behalf of industry groups like Western Energy Alliance (WEA) and not the public.

“Why else would they invite WEA Vice President Kathleen Sgamma to testify about why they should shut their own constituents out of decisions about what happens to their public lands?

“We should be discussing real solutions to gas prices, such as aggressively investing in high tech vehicles and renewable energy, increasing fuel efficiency for cars and trucks, and cracking down on Wall Street oil speculators.

“All this legislation will do is lock the public out of our public lands and put more money in the pocket of oil company CEOs.”

WHY THESE BILLS ARE HANDOUTS TO BIG OIL

H.R. 4383 creates a $5,000 fee for individuals who wish to participate in the decision-making process for oil and gas development on publicly owned lands. That includes families living near drilling sites who could be forced to live with the effects of drilling on their air and drinking water.

H.R. 4382 outlaws the right of public, local governments, and stakeholders to review lease sales, preventing new information from affecting leasing decisions. It also prevents the BLM from revising leasing plants.

H.R. 4381 gives oil companies first crack at all federal lands, rather than creating a level playing field between renewable energy and fossil fuels. It puts drilling über alles – making it the primary use of public lands above scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archeological values.

FACTS ABOUT AMERICAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

  • Oil production hit an 8-year high in 2011 at 2,070,454 thousand barrels.
  • Natural gas production was at an all-time high in 2011 at 28,577,562 MMcf.
  • Federal public lands leased in FY11 was 38.4 million acres compared to just 12.3 million acres leased and in production.
  • The BLM approved 4,244 drilling permits on federal lands in FY11 was 4,244, outpacing the number of new wells spudded on public lands which was 3,260.
  • Drilling activity reached its highest level under the Obama administration than at any point since the Reagan administration.

Filed under Colorado, Release Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Colorado House GOP pander for more oil and gas lobby dollars

April 19, 2012 by Leave a comment

Matt Garrington, Co-Director of The Checks and Balances Project, offered the following statement and facts regarding the introduction of Colorado House Republicans’ three bills to give away more of the West to the oil and gas industry: H.R. 4381, H.R. 4382 and H.R. 4383.

“Colorado House Republicans clearly know who is in charge of the U.S. House – Big Oil. It’s painful to watch members of Congress so blatantly pander for oil and gas lobby dollars.

“Instead of pushing legislation that amounts to nothing more than cheap gimmicks and handouts to industry, Rep. Lamborn, Rep. Coffman and Rep. Tipton should offer real solutions to high gas prices.

“If we want to get serious about gas prices, we should end tax breaks to oil and gas companies and reinvest those funds in American energy solutions such as high tech vehicles, the next generation of renewable fuels, and transportation solutions. We should also crackdown on Wall Street oil speculators that artificially increase the price of gas.”

FACTS ABOUT AMERICAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

  • Natural gas production was at an all-time high in 2011 at 28,577,562 MMcf
  • Federal public lands leased in FY11 was 38.4 millionacres leased and in production.
  • Drilling permits on federal public lands approved in FY11 was 4,244, outpacing the number of new wells spudded on federal public lands which was 3,260
  • As of January 25, 2012, the oil and gas industry had 6,500 unused drilling permits for western federal lands.
  • Drilling activity reached its highest level under the Obama administration than at any point since the Reagan administration.

FACTS ABOUT COLORADO ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

  • Natural gas production was at an all-time high in 2010 at 1,589,664 MMcf
  • Federal public lands leased in FY11 was 4.38 million acres compared to just 1.47 million acres leased and in production.

Bush administration average: 67
Obama administration average: 60

A LOOK AT THE BILLS

H.R. 4382, Sponsored by Rep. Coffman (CO-06) – $174,800 in oil and gas contributions

  • Increases oil and gas company speculation on public lands by requiring the Interior Department lease at least 25 percent of lands nominated for leasing by the oil and gas industry each year.
  • Ignores the fact that 57% of oil and gas leases – covering 21.6 million acres – lay idle
  • Prohibits Interior Department from making common sense decisions about whether leasing decisions should move forward when conflicts arise with other values such as water, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation.
  • Eliminates oil and gas leasing reforms which have reduced conflicts and litigation over drilling, ensured stronger conservation measures are implemented alongside responsible energy development, and provided a seat at the table for local government, outdoor recreation businesses, and the community.

H.R. 4381, Sponsored by Rep. Tipton (CO-03) – $111,600 in oil and gas contributions

  • Mandates the Interior Department to develop a new energy development plan every four years – but sets the table against renewable energy from consideration.
  • Ignores market forces by requiring arbitrary “necessary actions” to facilitate energy development on the public lands.

H.R. 4383, Sponsored by Rep. Lamborn (CO-05) – $137,962 in oil and gas contributions

  • Puts arbitrary deadlines on the permit approval process, especially given the fact that BLM continually issues far more drilling permits than the number of new wells industry drills on federal lands.
  • Establishes a $5,000 administrative fee for protests to leases, permits, and right-of-ways as well as creating arbitrary barriers to judicial review when the public, state and local governments, and others wish to challenge unwise leasing and development decisions.
  • Ignores the fact that industry has failed to develop more than 6,500 drilling permits.

Filed under Colorado, News, Permitting, Statements Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 65 other followers