Aspen (c91) News

RIFLE SHOOTOUT

Colorado Guv Hopefuls Meet in Energetic Debate

By David Frey, 10-05-06

Gubernatorial hopefuls squared off on energy issues in Rifle on Wednesday in a debate that highlighted western Colorado's emerging role as the center of the state's natural gas boom.

Democrat Bill Ritter called for the state to do more to oversee the industry and mitigate environmental and social impacts that can come along with it. He criticized his opponent's environmental voting record as a congressman. Rep. Bob Beauprez, a Republican, accused Ritter of trying to shut down the energy industry and pledged to balance industry needs and environmental concerns.

The debate focused primarily on energy issues, but Beauprez also pressed immigration issues, saving his last words to fire a salvo at Ritter, accusing him of plea-bargaining 152 felony cases of immigrants to avoid deportation when he was Denver's district attorney.

"They're aliens," Beauprez said. "They committed a crime. Get them out of here."

Ritter couldn't respond, but after the debate his spokesman Evan Dreyer accused Beauprez of grandstanding.

"Bill had a conviction rate of 95 percent," he told the Aspen Daily News. "He sent 12,006 criminals to prison. The congressman is attempting to exploit less than one half of one percent for political gain. This is a congressman who sat on the sidelines his entire time in Congress and never once lifted a finger to help federal law enforcement or local law enforcement deal with the problems that the criminal justice system faced with immigration."

The candidates appeared in the Rifle High School auditorium in front of about 300 people -- a crowd that included ranchers, energy industry executives and environmentalists.

"With all the energy development we've had here in the past decade, it's imperative that the candidates come here and discuss the one issue that so dramatically affects our lifestyles and livelihood," said Aron Diaz, executive director of Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, which hosted the event. The group is a coalition of area governments that formed in 1972 to deal with the impacts of oil shale exploration and production before the industry collapsed a decade later.

Ritter arrived in an SUV partly fueled by ethanol after a tour of an experimental EnCana gas-drilling operation. He accused Beauprez of being named one of the "dirty dozen" in Congress for his environmental record by the League of Conservation Voters. He called for Coloradans to be "stubborn stewards" of the state's air and water quality, and he criticized a Beauprez plan to use revenue from mineral severance taxes and private and federal funds to improve habitat elsewhere to make up for land disturbed by energy operations. Some wildlife biologists and former public lands managers have rejected the proposal, saying wildlife won't easily change their habits.

"You can't change migration patterns, just because you tell elk to go to a different place," Ritter said.

Ritter accused Beauprez of voting to slash funding to Golden's Natural Renewable Energy Laboratory before President Bush stepped in to restore it earlier this year. Beauprez, who spent the afternoon at an Englewood appearance with Bush, said the money was restored at his insistence. He labeled the League of Conservation Voters a "left-leaning group that always targets Republicans in vulnerable districts and says they're bad on the environment."

Beauprez criticized Ritter, saying his plans to protect watersheds outside city limits could put much of the state off limits for drilling altogether. He said Ritter's approach amounted to "shutting down" the energy industry and he called for a "common-sense, balanced" approach.

Both candidates, who were raised on farms, stressed their rural roots. Beauprez emphasized to this Western Slope audience that his running mate was from Mesa County, and he pledged to buy a "a western governor's house" on the Western Slope.

"We're going to come here on a very frequent basis," he said. "Why? I learn best about a place when I see it."

Ritter called for tougher state air and water quality standards and he criticized Beauprez for supporting measures to fast-track energy development on the federal level and lessen tax requirements on potential oil shale development.

Beauprez said he supported careful oil shale development and the development of resources like clean-burning coal, and he pledged to see that local governments got a bigger share of dollars paid to the state to mitigate energy impacts.

The issues hit home in Rifle, which has found itself at the heart of Colorado's latest natural gas boom. Some residents worry their rural landscape is becoming an industrial zone and wildlife is suffering.

"I think it's an excellent opportunity to bring out to the potential governor the impact that the industry is having upon the community," said Dave Moore, mayor of neighboring Silt, a Republican who said he is leaning toward supporting Beauprez and has been critical of the gas industry. "I'm not saying we need to do away with the industry. We need the industry. But we need responsible industry."

Garfield County leads the state in new gas activity, with about 1,600 drilling permits expected to be issued this year. The county has some 3,437 active wells, and thousands more expected in upcoming decades. Colorado has emerged as the nation's sixth biggest natural gas producer.

"This is the best thing to happen since Teddy Roosevelt came here to hunt bear," said Leslie Robinson, a Democratic Party activist in Rifle. "(It shows) that oil and gas is a concern for the state. To have both candidates recognize that fact says the spotlight is going to be here in northwest Colorado for a long time to come."

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