January 06, 2008 10:46 PM UTC

Say What? Driller-shiller discards truth, industry silent + poll

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• by: ClubTwitty

As former head of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the state’s primary special interest lobby for the oil and gas industry, driller-shiller Greg Schnacke certainly knows how Colorado’s mineral severance taxes and lease monies (shared with the federal government for development of publicly-owned minerals) are allocated in the state.  

But never the one to let truth get in the way of whatever it takes to enable the petroleum pushers, Mr. Schnacke won’t miss a chance to bolster his case, even if it means inventing tales.  

Take this article apparently lifted verbatim from an ‘Americans for American Energy, Inc.’ press release, as found on’AmericaJR'(“Detroit’s #1 Website”):

“Governor Ritter also clearly understands that the State stands to realize billions of dollars of revenue from oil and gas bonus bids and royalties on this project,” Schnacke added. “Half of that money will make its way to Colorado’s education system.”

The veracity of his math and figures aside-although his industry-front group has been known to bend a fact or two-this is certainly an interesting quote, sourced to AAE itself (rather than, to say, a Michigan reporter’s poor understanding of Colorado law).  

It’s also quite incorrect.  It is, in fact, one of the major issues expected to be taken up in the pending state legislative session, but given that half is what the state gets to begin with, even if a new revenue stream for education is taken from these monies, it will not be all.

According to its website, AAE has as its mission

to educate the American people, and policymakers at the federal, state and local levels…

Spinning fables and passing them off as fact is an interesting way to educate.  

Schnacke has also been prevalent, of late, taking on the Mountain Mayors-who represent every municipality from Parachute to Aspen-equating their nearly-decade long support for protecting the Roan Plateau with Islamist terrorism.  

For what AAE lacks in integrity it makes up for with gumption.  But unless Colorado’s more reasonable members of the oil and gas industry want to get pulled into the vortex of this dubious group’s crashing credibility, they ought to publicly condemn its statements and behavior.  So far the silence has been deafening.  

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