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July 03, 2010 07:25 PM UTC

Hickenlooper Mea Culpa Leaked By Sentinel Webmaster?

  • 41 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

An opinion piece you’ll definitely want to read at the Grand Junction Sentinel briefly popped onto RSS feed readers last night, though the link is dead as of this writing.

Titled “Rolling back oil and gas regulations would be a mistake for Colorado,” it’s a column by Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper that we expect many in the environmental community (not to mention the oil and gas industry) are eagerly anticipating–after a very tough few weeks for Hickenlooper on the issue. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t appear to have been online long enough for Google to cache it, so we’re left with only this teaser from the RSS feed:

I have never claimed to be a good politician, and my campaign staff says I am proving it every day. I am pretty sure that each new grey hair on my campaign manager’s head has my name on it.

Aw shucks, Mayor. You’ve softened us up for the straight dope–crap! “Page not available?”

You might remember that nearly four years ago, the Sentinel’s webmaster accidentally published their endorsement of Bill Ritter over Bob Beauprez a couple of days early–the early release of that editorial actually had the effect of making their endorsement a more interesting story.

It would appear he or she has done it again–what naturally follows the disarming introduction? What should? Speculate away before it’s published, and we’ll see how right you are.

SUNDAY UPDATE: Hickenlooper’s column is up for real now, here’s an excerpt:

My view on the oil and gas rules comes from the five years I spent in the oil and gas business, and the responsibility I feel we share to protect the natural resources that draw people to our state. If elected governor, I will work to make sure that we strike the right balance.

In general, the state rules include the best practices of the oil and gas industry. Both of my opponents want to rewrite the rules, but that would be a mistake. I would not throw out or roll back rules regulating oil and gas extraction in our state. Looking back would only reduce the predictability businesses need to operate successfully and undermine protections for our health and environment.

I learned from running small businesses that there is always room for improvement in any enterprise, and the same is certainly true in government. The current rules allow the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to examine and modify regulations as issues arise. I have heard from several operators that there are opportunities to cut red tape or tailor regulations for specific basins. As governor, I would encourage the commission to carefully consider these specific concerns and explore ways to address them, so long as protecting our health and environment remains paramount.

I will always be critical of any process that pits one side against another. At times, this rulemaking process was unnecessarily divisive. I want to show that Colorado values all of our communities and industries and reflects our common ethic of conservation. Natural gas is a leading industry in our state, and a robust energy sector is absolutely essential to our economic recovery and job growth.

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41 thoughts on “Hickenlooper Mea Culpa Leaked By Sentinel Webmaster?”

  1. Additional program highlights include a Gubernatorial Candidate Luncheon and discussion on Wednesday, July 7th featuring Colorado gubernatorial candidates Mr. Dan Maes, Former Colorado Rep. Scott McInnis and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper; and Friday Luncheon and discussion, The Colorado Clean Air – Clean Jobs Act and It’s National Implications.

    http://pr-canada.net/index.php…

    We might get some more details then.  Maes will beg for forgiveness, McInnis will threaten to gut the COGCC of any non-industry members.  What will the Mayor say?

    I noticed the missing link myself this morning…  will let folks know if it appears in print tomorrow.  

    1. The Wednesday luncheon with the gubernatorial candidates is all part of a multi-tradegroup meeting in Denver next week: Rocky Mtn Energy Epicenter

      The Thursday luncheon looks exciting:

      JOINT KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – Four Seasons Ballroom

      The keynote luncheon will also include the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission’s Annual Environmental Awards.

      Do you suppose Kennedy will say anything like this? (skip to 3:00 if you don’t want to listen to Keith drone on and on)

      Anybody going to liveblog this event? To tell us if there are any post-4th-of-July fireworks?

  3. Hickenlooper needs Ritter Republicans to win.

    Ritter Republicans are Republicans who tolerated what they saw as Ritter’s liberalism because he promised (and delivered) on protecting the western slope’s water supply, hunting and fishing, and tourism economy.

    Hickenlooper’s weekly rimjobs to the extraction industry threaten to cede those votes to McInnis, who will prefer his perceived conservatism on social and economic issues if they don’t sense Hickenlooper has their back on environmental issues.

    1. That Hickenlooper would do well to court.  I am on various list serves with a number of these folks and know that they are most concerned with some of the Mayor’s statements.

  5. should be the best in a long time. exposing some of the readers of Grand Junction Sentinel as the hard line galt conservatives. the propaganda spewing forth should be hilarious.

  7. The oil and gas industry is making these rules out to be a big bogeyman when the rules aren’t any different than our surrounding states.  The BIG problem in reality is that the prices for oil and gas are low.  If the prices went up, we wouldn’t hear a peep out of the industry.

      1. which of course doesn’t have to be transported across half a continent to market.  It costs about $4.50 to produce an mcf from the Piceance.  Last I checked, gas was selling for about $4.55 an mcf at the Henry Hub, which is why BP and others are reopening their shut in wells and activity is picking back up.

        Maes can beg for forgiveness all he wants–as a self-identified biznessman one would think he would understand the market a little better.

        McInnis can threaten to gut the COGCC, which already is swamped with backlogged mishaps and spills.

        Hickenlooper can try and steer the middle ground, which is preferable, but it doesn’t change the reality–gas is more expensive to produce in the Piceance due to geology not regulations.  

        Meanwhile spills and impacts increase.  

        1. Reported gas sales in Colorado for 2010, as of July 2, were 42% above reported sales on July 17, 2009 and 41% above reported sales on June 27, 2008.

          Alert readers will know that total gas sales in 2008 were 12% higher than any other previous annual total in the state. Even alert readers may not know that 2009 gas sales are currently 1% above 2008 totals (it appears that 2009 reporting is still not complete, for some unknown reason).

          So, although gas companies have reduced rig counts and fired personnel and contractors, they are still producing and selling record amounts of gas. (They are selling this gas for just pennies worth of profit, which is subsequently reflected in the paltry royalties and severance taxes paid on natural gas that, once removed, is gone forever.)

          Annual natural gas sales and production in Colorado, reported by county and month, can be found at the COGCC website.

          Partial year totals are not so easy to recover for previous years. I happen to have hardcopies for June & July of the last two years. The mid-year sale totals are:

          2010 (July  2) = 402,777,092 mcf

          2009 (July 17) = 283,534,442

          2008 (June 27) = 286,476,485

          Note: since there is at least a several month lag in the reporting and posting of gas sales data, the volumes reported at the end of June are NOT equal to half of the eventual annual sales total.

          Annual totals for the highest five years of natural gas sales in Colorado are (as of noon July 4, 2010):

          2009 = 1,478,064,773 mcf

          2008 = 1,459,670,665

          2007 = 1,294,412,283

          2006 = 1,217,746,377

          2005 = 1,119,288,840

  8. The article starts off with an apology for being a panderer, and then failed to clarify his position on anything.

    He doesn’t want to repeal the rules or change them, he just wants to change them or repeal them.

    The EPA is “draconian.”

    The process was “divisive” and Governor Ritter “pit[ted] one side against the other.”

    Still does not have my vote.

      1. talking to oil and gas people.  It pisses him off in the extreme.  Must have had a bad corporate experience in his past with a gas credit card.

        I thought Hickenloopers perspectives on the issue were decent but then again I am a supporter of his.

        Energy production is part of our state economy and there needs to be a balance between economic prosperity and environmental responsibility.  Until we produce renewable energy in abundance, we need to rely on the extractive industries for their products and they aren’t necessarily the bad guys.  

        Sorry if Hickenlooper triggers your purity reflexes Thilly.  He obviously won’t ever measure up to your standards but between the three remaining candidates I think he provides the best balance on this issue.

        1. with GG on this. While I have been openly critical of Mayor Hickenloopers’ rhetoric on this issue, I believe he will not move substantially to change the rules.

          I believe that either Republican will evicerate the COGCC, clear out the furniture, and re-open the country club, if you will.

          I am not opposed to resource extraction. I rely on the process to live my chosen lifestyle, as I am not an ascetic (nor is my wife, for that matter). But as for the process of extracting natural gas…

          It can be done better than it usually is…

          There are places they should stay out of…period…

          If they mess it up, they should fix it or pay for it…

          We only want the best companies doing business in our state.

          Are those extremist positions?

          1. Governor Ritter didn’t pit anyone against anyone. In fact, his mediators did a very good job of getting people to communicate.

            That accusation is malarkey.  

      2. Had this conversation before. I’d rather have a Republican moron to shoot flaming arrows at than a moron to defend.

        At this point I don’t think Hickenlooper can win. But if he finally articulates a vision for this state that includes the residents of it beyond the membership of the chamber of commerce, thus making it possible for him to win, then I’ll take another look at him.

        Until then, there are plenty of other races in this state that need attention.

          1. And absolutely WILL vote.  Maes won’t make it past the Primary (and I wouldn’t vote for that sycophant in any case).  

            Although I do think we (progressives, Dems, conservationists) need to call out any and all politicians we disagree with.  My version of the public square demands accountability.

          2. If he inspires some, maybe I’ll vote for him.

            But I am not going to spend the next four years explaining why tax breaks for billionaire real estate developers are actually good for poor people or why rolling back commonsense regulations on the oil and gas industry isn’t causing people’s flammable drinking water.

            And it’s far more important that we keep the legislature, and that’s not going to happen if we all spend our time and energy on a losing gubernatorial candidate who would be a terrible governor if elected.

            Can you honestly tell me you think the state would be better off with Hickenlooper and a Republican legislature than it would be with McInnis and a Democratic legislature?

              1. I think we can keep the legislature if we focus on it, and unless Hickenlooper vastly improves as a candidate I think there is only a slight chance he can win even if we forsake the legislature and put all our energy behind him.

                So there’s another realistic choice: lose everything.

                Win everything? Not possible with this candidate.

              2. That trendline is going the opposite direction from where it needs to be. Hickenlooper is the reason. McInnis has done everything in the world he can do to self-destruct, yet he’s basically steady in the polls while Hickenlooper is tanking.

  9. “I will always be critical of any process that pits one side against another.”

    Guess Hick isn’t a fan of Colo Pols.  

    2. Given that the COGCC rules brought industry representatives and ranchers and developers and local governments and hunters and health professionals and environmentalists and economists to some level of uneasy agreement, I still don’t know how Hickenlooper concludes that the process pitted “one side against another.”

      It was one of the most inclusive rulemakings ever.

      1. Anytime industry doesn’t get all and everything it wants it cries like a spoiled child.  One should not enable such behavior.  

      2. only appears to involve people sitting together at the table and working things out.

        The real history is that if, after the negotiating process is over and the O&G companies don’t get what they want, their lobbyists descend on the Legislature like a swarm of locusts and try to get the deal undone.

        1. The only difference between them is one of style.

          McInnis wants to be a show horse, Hickenlooper wants to be a work horse. But both want to lie in bed with COGA.

  10. As someone that cares about the environment I thought I had found my champion in Hickenlooper.  Then his comments to the COGCC made me take a closer look at him.  Then after that this comes out and it seems that he is just pandering for votes to anybody who will listen.  I want to support Hickenlooper but after this little incident I don’t know if I can trust him to keep Colorado’s environment beautiful for my kids and their kids.  Unfortunately I just don’t know where he stands now.

  11. I can’t take this anymore.  I love this site, and have long got most of my information and some good talking points from what I read here.

    But when is Pols going to call out Mayor Hickenlooper for trying to be a REPUBLICAN? I’m a lifelong Democrat and PROUD of it.  I am sick and tired of this pandering to the right BS that Hickenlooper is trying to pull.  We saw it last week when he threw Governor Ritter under the bus for being a responsible steward of the environment, and now in this article he is trying to have it both ways again.

    Hick’s favorite thing to say is that he’s a “bad Democrat.”  Well, I agree!  When is he going to be honest with voters like me and stick to his principles rather than pander to the right?

    I have to wonder if he’s in the pocket of the oil companies…He used to work for them, and it seems like every time he speaks he’s ready to let them in and do whatever they want to turn a profit–regardless of the consequences to Colorado.

    I understand that he has to win over votes, but this is getting to be too much.

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