July 09, 2010 03:43 AM UTC

McInnis Fish Videos: More Flip Flops

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• by: ClubTwitty

(UPDATED.  From the InterTubz… – promoted by ClubTwitty)

UPDATE:

As ardy39 points out in the comments, this isn’t the only example of Scott McInnis flopping around on the oil and gas rules. From the GJ Sentinel, June 7, 2009, h/t ardy:

PARACHUTE — Mineral owners Saturday assailed a Democratic lawmaker over the state’s new oil and gas rules, while Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis said new natural gas discoveries across the country are playing the primary role in Colorado’s drilling slowdown.

…McInnis instead gave a speech focusing on the numerous new natural gas plays in other parts of the country that have left the United States awash in natural gas and helped lower prices  and reduce local drilling.

…McInnis is a former western Colorado congressman who recently filed paperwork to run for governor in 2010. In an interview after his speech, he said the state’s new rules aren’t the central cause of Colorado’s drilling slowdown, although they may be a contributing factor.

He said it’s too early to judge the new rules, and the state has a right to be demanding in its regulation of energy companies.

Original diary follows…

The Pot thought it had a Kettle to paint with recent attacks around the Mayor’s perhaps awkward positioning on the state oil and gas regulations.

But Scott McInnis’ own record of ongoing reinvention might have suggested some danger in taking this approach.  

A video has now surfaced that has the erstwhile DC congressman and establishment candidate   saying he would NOT ‘roll back’ the state’s new regulations. That clip, of course, is coupled with one of the Lawyer-Lobbyist hitting his more familiar theme, a tune he has been singing oft of late in front of every oil and gas forum he can plead to be able to represent.    

I’ll admit to not being quite in line with the Mayor’s messaging on the oil and gas regulations.

The regulations were crafted over many months with many discussions, documents, briefs, meetings, hearings and more over the course of their formulation. Of course pit liners should be disposed of properly and not buried on site. It should not even be a question.  

Candidates should be honest with the voters–and the interest groups.  We have a lot of natural gas in Colorado. But its relatively expensive to develop. That’s OK. It can provide wealth and return over the long haul. Cheaper plays elsewhere and a severe economic downturn with gas glutted on the market does not bode well for developing a resource at the high end of the cost curve.  But its a massive resource–drillers will be back when the economics favor it.  

Colorado would do well to prepare itself for that inevitability, and the rules are a good first step. They should not be rolled back but strengthened.

Candidates should show the ability to play it straight with Coloradans and help us solve problems today and prepare for the future. Not parse words to try to win the favor of powerful interests. Democrats should not adopt Republican messaging about sensible regulations damaging the economy. No evidence supports that for these rules.    

But rather than saying two quite different things, as McInnis appears to in these clips, Hickenlooper’s message has been a bit more consistent. The Colorado Independent has a different take than some of those other, old-school shrinking publications regarding what was said at the Petroleum Club, and it is quite consistent with Hick’s reported comments in front of the COGA execs.

“I don’t think that we need to go and change a regulation. [We] simply would allow the oil and gas [commission] to handle exemptions. They have that power.”

That is also more or less consistent with his Sentinel op-ed.

The current rules allow the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to examine and modify regulations as issues arise. I have heard from several operators that there are opportunities to cut red tape or tailor regulations for specific basins. As governor, I would encourage the commission to carefully consider these specific concerns and explore ways to address them, so long as protecting our health and environment remains paramount.

So while I would prefer some stronger words from the Mayor, I also believe Scott McInnis 3.0–he would put COGA in the driver’s seat.  

Because in spite of his flailing about on competing clips McInnis has been consistent of late in his pandering to oil and gas.  Such as his appearance at the Petroleum Club:

McInnis came out strong against recent regulations on the industry, which he again argued cost the state jobs, as he has argued countless times over the past year.

…Playing to the energy execs in the crowd at the event, which was sponsored by the Denver Petroleum Club and 9News, McInnis said he would like to see Colorado take the Texas approach to the industry, where the main demand placed on oil and gas corporations was that they provide an accurate phone number [emphasis Twitty] on state paperwork so “we can go after them. We want the jobs,” he said.

McInnis said the people on the commission currently were acting on emotion instead of thinking about jobs and the economy. …He said he would look to appoint exploration advocates to the commission if he were elected governor. Industry access to public lands would be a priority.  

…McInnis celebrated oil and coal;  

…In the debate, McInnis targeted the state’s new 30 percent renewable energy standard. He said that, although he wouldn’t remove it outright, he said he would look at the costs to consumers.

And in front of COGA:  

McInnis has said he would launch a rewrite of the rules, and he repeated his pledge Wednesday at the annual conference of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

He accused Hickenlooper of bowing to pressure from environmentalists.

…”I would remake up the commission. We have three experts in oil and gas on the commission out of nine. It’s not a social engineering commission. It’s the oil and gas commission,” McInnis said, to applause from the crowd of about 450.

So when he told Colorado State of Mind (from the clip, perhaps he was imaging that day he would have to seem reasonable to PBS viewers):

Well, no, I wouldn’t get rid of it.

He was only displaying his pre-flop flip.

BONUS STUMPER:

At the Petroleum Club, McInnis allegedly put forth:

He celebrated legislation he said he put forward in the state that opened Colorado’s Roan plateau to drilling…

What is he speaking of Colorado historians?  (I have some ideas I need to verify–I recall things a bit differently, however…)