a bluff?

Energy Producers Threaten to Leave Colorado

By Richard Martin, 1-25-08

Attempting to transform the way energy is produced and consumed in the West, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has done his best to avoid antagonizing the oil and gas industry. Unfortunately he hasn’t succeeded.

The appointment of Matt Baker, the executive director of Environment Colorado, to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission riled the oil-and-gas officials. The drafting of new energy-development regulations, now under revision by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, has infuriated them – so much so that energy-industry leaders are threatening to pack up their rigs and decamp.

“Officials from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, Williams Production and EnCana Oil and Gas USA told The [Grand Junction] Daily Sentinel they are vehemently opposed to the rulemaking because they feel the Oil and Gas Commission is overstepping what the laws require, and industry hasn’t been adequately represented in the rulemaking process.”

“There are other opportunities around the world” for the industry to pursue, Oil and Gas Association President Meg Collins told The Daily Sentinel’s editorial board.

This is bluster, of course: the oil and gas industry goes where the oil and gas is, and it’s here, on the Western Slope. But Ritter is savvy enough to know that his ambitious plans for remaking the development and production of energy will not succeed if oil and gas producers refuse to go along. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds to these latest threats.

In other energy news:

-- Meanwhile, across the pond, the European Union has moved from big hairy continental goals to specific national targets for transferring its economy from petroleum-based to renewable energy sources. As The Economist points out, this involves a degree of unfairness because some member nations are both wealthier and greener than their (ex-Communist) neighbors. Here’s an important statistic: EU officials say that achieving the plan’s ambitious goals (cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% by 2020) will cost just one-half of one percent of Europe’s GDP. Inaction will be far more costly for the U.S.

-- In case you’re wondering, 2007 was not only among the warmest years on record, it was also the best in history for the alternative-energy industries, particularly solar and wind. “Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, projected 60 percent solar growth in the U.S., after a record year in 2006,” reports Alternativeenergy.com, while “The American Wind Energy Association predicted that 4,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity was built in the U.S. in 2007, up from 2,454 megawatts the year before.”

-- Also planning an ambitious shift to less-polluting energy sources is Xcel Energy, which has over the last two years become one of the more progressive utilities west of the Mississippi. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will hold hearings June 23-July 11 on Xcel’s proposals, which include “adding about 1,050 megawatts of renewable power by 2015 and reducing demand by 694 megawatts through energy-saving programs,” according to The Rocky Mountain News, as well as shutting down four coal-fired power units.

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