March 16, 2009 11:06 PM UTC

Doing what's right for Colorado

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• by: ClubTwitty

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Colorado Republicans continue their barrage against new oil and gas regulations–blaming them nearly every day for the mini-bust in Colorado’s gasfields.  

Again, reporting from the energy sector tells a very different story, one that the Senate Republicans are unable, or unwilling, to accept.

HOUSTON – Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc. says it can’t rule out another job reduction later this year after announcing late last week it was cutting another 1,500 positions, bringing its total to 3,000 so far this year.

…Tumbling crude prices, frozen credit markets and forecasts for meager energy consumption have forced oil and gas producers worldwide to scale back spending. That means less work for companies like Baker Hughes, which assist producers with drilling, reservoir management and other services.

The report continues:

To understand the drop off in oil and gas activity, look no further than Baker Hughes’ own weekly count of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States.

Baker Hughes said Friday the rig count dropped by 44 last week to 1,126, which Oppenheimer & Co. noted was the lowest level in more than 5 years. The U.S. count is down nearly 45 percent since the end of August.

Meanwhile, very real problems and threats face the residents of Colorado’s still burgeoning gasfields.  Today, the latest incident has sent HazMat teams (again) into action (courtesy of taxpayers):

Authorities have closed Colorado Highway 139 in both directions after a two-truck collision that sent at least one person to the hospital and hazardous-materials teams scrambling to contain a chemical spill.

…He said one man was decontaminated at the scene and then transported to the hospital.

The Grand Junction Fire Department Hazardous-materials team and Colorado Department of Transportation have deployed sand trucks and heavy equipment to build dikes to contain the spill, according to scanner traffic.

Early reports said that a pickup truck pulling a trailer hauling acid and a semi-truck were involved in the collision.

And last week:

RIFLE, Colorado – Traffic was expected to be allowed to use the Colorado Highway 13 bypass and Railroad Avenue in Rifle Thursday evening, after it was closed that morning due to an overturned tanker that leaked natural gas condensate liquid, Rifle police said.

…Police said a northbound tractor-trailer rolled over onto its side at the Railroad Avenue and Highway 13 bypass intersection, where several other tankers have overturned in recent years. The trailer ruptured and released an estimated 5,000 gallons of condensate, police said.

One of the changes proposed in the updated rules would be to require that companies disclose the mix of toxic chemicals they are daily trucking through our towns and neighborhoods (often at unsafe speeds).

But rather than focusing on real threats and issues Colorado’s Republicans are instead fighting a fiction–that the new (yet to be enacted) rules are a primary cause of the downturn in the drilling fields.

As GJ Rep. Steve King stated last week in the Sentinel:

“I had friends last week, good friends that lost their jobs, good jobs, long-lasting until last week. And it was not because of commodity prices, it was not because of world markets. It was because of fear of the unknown. It was because of these rules,” he said.

Irony thy name is Penry

As residents of the gaspatch watch air quality decline, water wells poisoned, and toxic spills multiply like mushrooms in the mountains after a monsoonal rain, Sen. Penry adds some (unintended) irony to the discussion:

“I’m wondering if there aren’t some members of the other party who, instead of rubber-stamping Bill Ritter’s job-killing rules, will put what’s good for their region ahead of what’s good for their party,” Penry said after the gathering.  “Colorado has a long history of rural lawmakers who cross party lines to do what’s right for the people they represent.“