May 06, 2013 06:17 PM UTC

Hick Spikes Wattenberg Water Testing Bill

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• by: Colorado Pols

 FOX 31's Eli Stokols:

It’s been known for weeks that House Bill 1316, which would require oil and gas companies in the Greater Wattenburg Area to abide by the same groundwater testing regimes as the rest of the state, didn’t have much of a chance to pass the Senate.

On Monday, the Senate killed the measure when three Democrats joined Republicans in voting it down.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, opposed the measure outright, arguing that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had voted unanimously in favor of the new water testing rules last year, rules he’s since heralded as the strongest and best in the country.

Environmental groups, irked by Hickenlooper’s opposition to much of their oil and gas legislation, noted that if the rule was indeed as strong as the governor says it is, the Greater Wattenburg Area should have to abide by it as well…

The other side of this argument is that the higher density of wells in this area should make water testing a higher priority–or at least no excuse to relax water testing standards simply because there is more drilling in the area. It's one of those things that really only seems possible as a result of lobbyist-imposed groupthink. A common sense look at the question tends to produce the opposite conclusion as the COGCC did.

But this year, Hickenlooper is getting what he wants when it comes to oil and gas bills. Right now, Hickenlooper has the political power to stop his fellow Democrats on this issue, and he is not being shy about wielding it.

As we've said, the political risks of opposing legislation that could make oil and gas exploration safer are nonetheless quite significant for Hickenlooper. The very direct chain of responsibility for something like drinking water contamination, and a bill to close a loophole granting an area an exemption from the water testing standard that applies to the rest of the state, is not something we would want in our political closets.

In very real terms, serious political problems are now just one headline away for "Gov. Frackenlooper."