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Colorado Oil and Gas Association chief makes peace with regulators
Chairman urges state, industry to boost natural gas
Herald Denver Bureau
Don McClure, COGA chairman
Don McClure, an EnCana executive who is chairman of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, asked companies and regulators to cooperate after three years of brawls between the industry and Gov. Bill Ritter's administration.
"Colorado is in the crosshairs of a national energy policy."
- Don McClure, COGA chairman
The crowd at COGA's annual meeting included numerous state lawmakers, Republican gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis and Josh Penry, and members of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which adopted strict rules in 2007 over loud industry objections.
McClure urged everyone in the crowd to cooperate on boosting the supply and use of natural gas, which burns cleaner and emits less global warming pollution than coal or oil.
"Colorado is in the crosshairs of a national energy policy," McClure said.
He gently admonished the COGCC for taking too long to approve drilling permits, but he applauded the commissioners' pledge to reduce the backlog.
The COGCC had a backlog of 749 permits in September, but that was down from more than 2,000 in April.
McClure showed a chart of the drop in drilling rigs across the country since last fall. Rigs are down 50 percent nationally, 68 percent in the Rockies, and 75 percent in the Piceance Basin, Colorado's most active drilling area.
McClure blamed low gas prices and a glut of gas in storage. But he also urged regulators to "set the right tone." "Any sustainable energy solution requires balance - a balance that requires environmental stewardship while protecting the competitive interests of the state against other regions," McClure said.
Both McInnis and Penry have criticized Ritter's push for environmental rules on gas production, and Penry has been especially vocal.
"The industry itself was not excited about the rules," Penry said after Wednesday's meeting. "With the regulators in the room, everybody puts on a smiley, diplomatic face." Ritter defends the 2007 gas production rules as the right balance between energy production and environmental protection.
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Get with the program says...
So, Ritter's new rules are having a major backlog.... big surprise. We need to have natural gas. We should be encouraging natural gas!