Colorado's attack on the oil & gas industry

[dan_s]

How would new regulations impact the oil and gas industry in Colorado? Here’s what we know. . Colorado Sun . The greatest point of contention in the debate about a monumental rewrite of Colorado’s oil and gas regulations is how it will impact the industry and the state. The predictions from critics are dire. The oil and gas industry estimates its economic impact at more than $30 billion when the ripple effects are taken into account. Colorado oil production is remains at record levels and the value reached $10 billion in 2018, up 62 percent from the year before, according to an economic report from CU’s Leeds School of Business. The state’s natural gas production valuation is estimated at more than $5 billion. The industry’s strong position is one of the reasons tax collections at the state and local levels are increasing, according to state economists, and providing more money for health care, education and other programs. The industry’s advocates argue that the bill’s quick movement through the process — it passed the Senate Thursday, less than two weeks after introduction, on a party-line vote in the Democratic-led chamber — exacerbates the problem because lawmakers are moving forward without knowing all the facts.

Colorado’s SB19-281 moves to House of Representatives . Kallanish Energy . The bill that would mandate sweeping changes in how companies drill for oil and natural gas in Colorado is headed from the state's Senate to the House of Representatives, where approval also is expected, Kallanish Energy reports. The bill, SB19-181, was approved by three Senate committees and by a 19-15 vote on the Senate floor with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans and the energy industry opposing it. After the Senate vote, Dan Haley of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Ben Marter of the Colorado Petroleum Council, thanked the Republicans for their support and said the bill “could damage Colorado’s economy for years to come.” “A customary stakeholder process in the crafting of this bill would have yielded a much more workable outcome, and we remain shocked that a measure so consequential to the future of our state would be rammed through a legislative body in under two weeks without relevant input or sufficient analysis by people who actually understand the impacts that these decisions have on people’s lives,” they said, in a joint statement. They added, “This much we do know: Senate Bill 181 still attempts to cripple the industry’s ability to continue operations in Colorado.”

Taking another run at oil and gas regulation . Denver Post . Opinion. It’s hard for me to put into words how disappointed I am in the recent decisions of lawmakers to subvert citizens, the voting process, and the entire democratic process on several key pieces of legislation being shoved through committee affecting the state that I grew up in and call home. In particular is Senate Bill 181, which has profound impacts on the oil and gas industry — an industry that our firm supports by engineering safe, reliable infrastructure. Recently, I attended several committee readings and town hall events and was astonished to see hysteria and fear elevated over fact and hard data on everything from air quality to industry practices. Almost all of the talking points from the “pro-181” movement can be partially or completely debunked.
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MY TAKE: It will be "Lawsuit City" in Colorado if the bill passes.