February 24, 2010 09:45 PM UTC

Oil & Gas Companies on State Regulations: Um, Never Mind

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As The Ft. Collins Coloradaoan reports:

After years of claiming Colorado’s new oil and gas regulations will chase the energy industry and its jobs from the state, oil and gas operators and an industry group are now saying the rules will have little impact on future energy development here…

…The new rules, which took effect last April and were developed by Gov. Bill Ritter and his administration, require energy companies to employ “best management practices” to protect wildlife and consult with state wildlife officials about sensitive habitat before drilling. They also require companies to follow a slate of other requirements to safeguard the environment.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said in January that the rules present an unfriendly regulatory environment for the industry in Colorado and they’ll drive jobs out of the state.

Oil and gas activity dropped last year from its boom days in 2008, but 2009 saw more oil and gas activity in Colorado than any other Rocky Mountain state.

Whoops!

Republicans like Scott McInnis, Josh Penry and Gardner have been doing the whole “sky is falling” routine for years at the behest of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, which curiously, no longer has anything else to say:

If and when the time comes to haul drilling rigs into northern Weld County, Mazza said, the state’s new oil and gas regulations will have “no effect.”

Kathleen Sgamma, the director of governmental affairs for the Denver-based Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, said she doesn’t fear the new rules will get in the way of development in Weld County…

…The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, which has long been opposed to the rules, declined to comment. [Pols emphasis]

It’s going to get harder and harder for anyone to blame Gov. Bill Ritter or anyone else in Colorado for any loss of jobs in the oil & gas industry when the companies themselves are openly admitting that new rules and regulations don’t matter. Not that they won’t keep trying, of course.

In the same Coloradoan story above, Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, a former top staffer for Sen. Wayne Allard, says that he’s “not convinced” that the rules haven’t been detrimental. But who cares what Conway thinks when oil and gas companies are saying the rules aren’t an issue?

(h/t to Club Twitty)