The collapse of oil prices, if it continues, may tamp down Colorado’s drilling boom for some time to come. And that in turn could ease pressure on state officials to deal with issues raised last year by ballot proposals targeting energy production.
But postponing action would be a mistake. The price of energy fluctuates, but the technology and know-how that spurred the recent explosion of drilling will still be around when prices inevitably rise again. The time to deal with bitter issues involving drilling near residential development that spurred last year’s initiatives is sooner rather than later.
In other words, it’s just as important for the Colorado Oil and Gas Task Force to come up with recommendations for the legislature by its Feb. 27 deadline as it was when Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed its members last fall. The task force meets for two days this week in Greeley, and again for three days in February, so time is running out.
Sadly, the previous meetings offer only modest hope that the panel is poised to succeed.
At its December meeting in Rifle, the task force actually failed to reach agreement on an agenda for this week’s business. And several members, including Russ George, former director of the state Department of Natural Resources, openly expressed frustration with a lack of focus and progress.
Fortunately, the draft agenda for this week does include discussion of “potential recommendations.” So there is still time to pull a rabbit (or two or three) out of the hat. Specific recommendations would help lawmakers when they take up these issues and give credibility to any measures that might pass.
The fact that the legislature is now divided probably means that a grand bargain on local control is out of the question. But there are still important if less ambitious ideas that could lessen the residential impact of drilling, as well as boost public confidence in its safety. Those need to be pursued.
Otherwise, the bruising ballot fights that were avoided last year will simply be shifted to 2016 — when drilling critics may have a better chance of prevailing than in the past.
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