August 26, 2007 09:12 PM UTC

Sen. Allard...clueless in Loveland? + Roan Plateau poll

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• by: ClubTwitty

At his joint press conference August 18 with state Sen. Josh Penry, Sen. Allard refused to even call the roads, waste pits, loss of habitat and recreational lands, air pollution, increased industrial traffic, and the plethora of other effects from energy development ‘impacts’ at all, calling it—instead—‘economic development.’ 

In a Grand Junction Sentinel article from Sunday (August 26) Sen. Wayne Allard is quoted as saying “I think energy development will be especially important to Colorado, but more so to the Western Slope, because this is the area that will be most seriously impacted both positively and, perhaps, negatively…”

Meanwhile, in the same edition, three elected leaders representing Western Colorado, from the heart of the gaspatch, had a letter, that reads, in part: 

  “Yet the pace and scale of energy development is transforming our landscapes, our communities and quality of life.  While we understand and appreciate the financial contributions the industry makes to our state, the very real costs to our communities are often overlooked. These include increased burdens on local services, education systems, law enforcement agencies and damage to roads, bridges and infrastructure.

“…Leasing or drilling Colorado’s last few remaining special places will not result in a significant financial windfall, relative to other economic drivers. The BLM predicts that drilling the public lands on top of Roan Plateau would only result in a 1 percent gain in projected property tax revenue from mineral extraction in Garfield County over the next 20 years.

“Ironically, all this drilling won’t keep prices down in Colorado, either. Much of this gas is destined for distant markets. Energy analysts at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s conference recently said the new and expanded pipelines from the Rockies to the East will boost profits for gas companies — and raise the cost of heating our homes.”

So, on one hand we have a Senator from Loveland that thinks “perhaps” Western Colorado might be experiencing some ‘negative impacts’ from the tens of thousands of wells and related industrial infrastructure now being ‘installed’ across our public and private lands.  On the other hand you have elected officials from these very same places stating otherwise—that negative impacts are not just a perception or a ‘maybe’ but a daily reality for their constituents and communities. 

continued…

If the Colorado GOP wonders why it keeps losing support, why a Denver Democrat can come within 700 votes of  beating the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Delta County, they might look no further than this exchange between Sen. Penry,  state Rep. Steve King, and  hunter, Republican, and Sentinel publisher George Orbanek:

“…To the extent that Colorado GOP lawmakers even talk about new revenue sources to help fund higher education, highways and the sundry other basic responsibilities of government, the talk quickly gets around to the multiple gazillions of dollars that Colorado ostensibly is in line to reap in energy fees if the likes of Mark Udall, John Salazar, Bill Ritter and the plethora of like-minded suspects would only get out of the way of progress on the top of the Roan Plateau, the Vermillion Basin, local municipal watersheds and pretty much every other place in western Colorado.

“I asked both [Rep. Steve] King and state Sen. Josh Penry, who also was in attendance at last Monday’s CU luncheon, if they felt that the state GOP was in danger of becoming a virtual cheerleader for industry, singularly focused on maximizing energy development fees in order to keep its political base happy…

“…Both King and Penry were sharply critical of the intransigence of Democratic lawmakers like Udall and Salazar to drilling the top of the Roan….

“ ‘There are areas in this state that need to remain pristine and there are areas that need to be developed,’ said King.  Asked if he could name one single instance in which one single member of the state GOP took a prominent public position in favor of preserving a relatively undeveloped region of the state from drill rigs, King said he could not.”

Having observed Sen. Allard these many years he has been moldering in the U.S. Senate, I am not surprised he cannot grasp the fundamentals of what Colorado—especially the Western Slope—is experiencing from the energy boom.  But Sen. Penry should know better.  Colorado can afford to protect places like the Roan Plateu and Vermillion Basin.  What we cannot afford is to let the energy industry determine where, when, and how quickly it will develop our state’s public minerals.  That is a decision for the citizenry. 

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