July 24, 2008 07:59 PM UTC

Dems Leverage Oil and Gas "Windfall"

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Several prominent Colorado Democrats blasted the oil and gas industry yesterday in a press release (follows), noting the industry’s record profits at the same time they are fighting new drilling rules.

Says House Majority Leader Alice Madden, “is an industry that continues to make record profits while Coloradoans are getting stiffed at the pump every week. Despite their hollow claims to the contrary, it is clear that oil and gas corporations can well afford the small effort it takes to protect our water, our wildlife, and our communities.”

More information:

Wally White, La Plata County Commissioner, 970-382-6217                                    

Tim Sarmo, Palisade Town Administrator, 970-464-5602

Alice Madden, House Majority Leader, 303-589-2560

Elise Jones, Colorado Environmental Coalition, 303-885-4273

Oil and Gas Industry Reaping Windfall in Colorado

But drillers object to protecting Colorado’s drinking water and public health

DENVER, Colo. – This week, oil and gas companies will release second quarter earnings statements that show Colorado operators continue to make handsome profits for their shareholders.  

At the same time, an industry-funded public relations campaign has flooded television, radio and print media with ads that say updating rules to protect Colorado’s water, wildlife and public health would cause them to fire thousands of employees.

Now, as the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission prepares to deliberate on a final set of rules, sportsmen and conservation groups are calling on the oil and gas industry to agree to protections to our drinking water and public health from the impacts of the accelerating gas boom.

These protections have received support from local elected officials who are dealing with impacts in the gas patch.

“We need to take a balanced look at this and everyone needs to understand the importance of protecting municipal water supplies,” said Tim Sarmo, Palisade’s Town Administrator. “While industry may feel they can do this safely, there are no guarantees, and in the absence of guarantees we need regulations sufficient to protect water first.”

In April, an unknown chemical poisoned a Durango nurse when she treated a worker doused with drilling fluids in a gas field accident. Her treatment was hindered by a lack of information about what she was exposed to. The industry is objecting to a proposed new rule that requires drillers and other well-field operators to disclose what chemicals they use.

This month, a Haliburton executive told the oil and gas commission that the company would reduce its operations in the state if it were required to disclose the ingredients of its hydraulic fracturing fluids. Fracturing fluids are comprised of water and various chemicals that injected underground at high pressures through well bores to break rock formations and release natural gas. “It is much like asking Coca-Cola to disclose the formula of Coke,” said Haliburton’s Ron Heyden.

Coke, however, prints all of its ingredients on every can.

“It’s common sense – drilling companies should be required to disclose their proprietary chemicals immediately to qualified emergency and medical personnel,” said Wally White, a La Plata County Commissioner. “Unfortunately, they’re not doing that now. We also want to see restrictions on the use of toxic chemicals in drilling fluids because they can contaminate local drinking water supplies.”  

Another one of industry’s major goals has been the elimination of wildlife rules backed by than 70 Colorado groups designed to protect wildlife and critical habitat during energy development. The guidelines, unanimously approved by the Colorado Legislature, directed state officials to develop regulation to assure the needs of wildlife are factored in before energy development begins.

Over the past 10 years, the number of drilling permits issued by the state each year has increased seven-fold to 7,000. Colorado already has 34,000 active wells, and industry projects it will drill at least 100,000 more. Studies have repeatedly shown that without proper safeguards, wildlife populations plummet near major gas-field operations.

This week, major oil companies began reporting second-quarter profits. Conoco, the third-largest U.S. oil company by market value reported net income of $5.44 billion compared with $4.81 billion a year earlier. XTO Energy, which has significant Colorado holdings, reported total revenues of $1.94 billion for the second quarter, a 46% increase from $1.33 billion the prior year. In June, Williams, which recently acquired 24,000 more acres in the Piceance Basin, upped its projected 2008 earnings by 34 percent.

“This is an industry that continues to make record profits while Coloradoans are getting stiffed at the pump every week,” said State House Majority Leader Alice Madden.  “Despite their hollow claims to the contrary, it is clear that oil and gas corporations can well afford the small effort it takes to protect our water, our wildlife, and our communities.”

The oil and gas rulemaking will resume Aug. 12, when commissioners meet to begin deliberating on the rules.

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