Join me now for a trip in the Talking Point Time Machine. Our destination: 2008-09.
As we arrive at the state Capitol, you’ll note that lawmakers are rewriting Colorado’s rules for oil and gas drilling and the nation is in the early throes of the Great Recession.
Please keep all cameras and recording devices in your pockets, as any Republican or industry mouthpiece who sees one will, without prompting, bark at us about the job-killing that Gov. Bill Ritter and his green army are forcing upon the state.
That includes —
“They’re going to pass on rules that will put people out of jobs and are putting people out of jobs,” says Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma.
“The governor’s rules will kill jobs and hurt energy production at a time when we need more of both,” says Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction.
— smartphones.
Quick, back in the time machine before we’re buried. Shut the door. What about the job-killing? We need to get back to the final months of 2011.
And here we are.
El Paso County has enacted a moratorium on permits for exploratory drilling while they craft local regulations. Similar efforts are underway in Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties. Last week, Colorado Springs enacted a six-month moratorium.
I know what you’re thinking: The 2008-09 state effort must’ve been scrapped and now local communities are giving it a shot. The politicians who lived through the wars under the gold dome must be going absolutely nuts over all of this potential job-killing and are warning residents in these Republican strongholds of what they’re about to do to the economy!
Nope.
The state regulations were enacted and the job-killing talking point is but a distant memory.
Gardner, who has a new job as a U.S. congressman, occasionally dusts it off for fights with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson.
Penry, for those who like irony, took a job with an energy consulting business in which, according to the Daily Sentinel, his responsibilities include helping companies “navigate government regulations.”
And how is the state’s oil and gas industry, you ask?
There’s a rush on, folks.
Anadarko last month said there are as many as 1.5 billion barrels of oil beneath the ground across the northern Front Range. Noble Energy thinks it can tap 1.5 billion barrels of oil in Colorado.
Through November, Colorado, with 2,054 well starts, leads nearby North Dakota (1,620), Wyoming (1,040), Utah (719), New Mexico (191) and Montana (143), according to data from the state Department of Natural Resources.
So, what happened?
The short answer: horizontal drilling with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. The technique lets companies tap previously unreachable shale plays and has oil and gas companies poised to bring a bonanza to the state.
“Nobody ever thought it was feasible two years ago,” Pete Stark, vice president for industry relations at IHS, a Denver-based consulting firm, told me.
Later this week, the state Department of Natural Resources will hold hearings on new rules aimed at requiring more transparency regarding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
It’s the next round in the debate over Colorado’s energy future.
As you wade through the coverage, keep your eyes and ears open for the talking points — from those on the right and the left.
You’d also do well to follow your nose. Because in the heat of political battle, people on every side of an issue are like a baby’s diaper: You never know for sure when they’re full of it, so it’s best to give everything a smell test first.
E-mail Curtis Hubbard at chubbard@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @curtishubbard
