Q: Why did you leave your post as executive director of Colorado Lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado to join the Colorado Oil and Gas Association?
A: I looked at the situation in conservation, and there’s an enormous amount still to do. I’ve always believed that you can have natural resource extraction and a healthy environment at the same time. So I’m bringing that spirit to COGA.
Given the ongoing conflict (with the state implementing new oil and gas drilling rules amid backlash from industry), I think it’s important that we find the appropriate balance between resource extraction and a healthy environment, and I think we can have both.
Q: How will your work with Great Outdoors Colorado, or GOCO, help you with your new position?
A: I spent a lot of time at GOCO working with land trusts and private landowners and working with communities all over the state, from parks and recreation and open-space protection to wildlife-habitat protection. I really enjoyed being part of an effort to bring those diverse parties together for the benefit of Colorado.
I have learned to do well with disparate groups, so I bring that experience to COGA. Our quality of life is based on the natural beauty of this state, and it’s a huge economic engine. Also, part of our quality of life is having a job and being able to feed your family. And those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. I just bring the spirit of unity where there doesn’t appear to be any at the moment.
Q: What are your top goals for 2009?
A: These rules will make their way through the legislature (for review). One of my priorities is to make sure that that is done in a bipartisan way.
The goal being that the industry really needs regulatory certainty in these uncertain economic times so that the long-term investments that these companies make in Colorado can continue. The current uncertainty in these rules and regulations is going to drive investment out of the state.
Q: Besides the rule making, what else will draw your attention?
A: There have been a number of challenges, and I’m sure there will be more this session. I think there’s going to be additional legislative initiatives to further restrict, in a punitive way, industry and some of the techniques it uses to get oil and gas out of the ground.
Q: Is the state’s oil and gas industry headed for a long-term bust as companies scale back investments in 2009?
A: You have a number of different issues converging, and a number of them are short term. Certainly the tough economy and the tightness of capital and the price of natural gas are a short-term phenomenon.
The longer term (issue) that gives rise to concern is the creation of a regulatory structure that will be the most burdensome in the nation. That’s critical because these companies are making investments but they’re looking to make investments where they have a stable regulatory environment — where they know if they do A, B and C, they will get a permit.
Q: Will we see a drop in drilling permits issued in 2009 because of the new rules?
A: We’re going to see a drop in actual rigs in the state. You can get a permit but that doesn’t mean that you’ve drilled a well and that doesn’t mean you’re going to put the capital forward and actually develop that and get the product out of the ground.
Edited for length and clarity by Andy Vuong
