Face The State Staff Report
As gas prices reach an all-time high in Colorado — with the average price hitting $4 a gallon for the first time Thursday — local Republicans are charging that Democrats controlling state government are to blame in part due to their continued alienation of the energy industry.
GOP state office holders and candidates alike are claiming Democrats in power — specifically the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter — are fostering a hostile environment for the energy industry. The say that Democrats’ policies toward energy development in Colorado have taken a huge toll on the pocketbooks of average citizens across the state.
"When I'm out walking door-to-door, the thing I hear most is: 'Why are our gas prices so high in this country when we have the resources available but aren't using them?'” said Libby Szabo, the Republican candidate for North Jeffco's Senate District 19. “My answer to that happening is this: Because those in power have restricted our energy production through massive regulation, taxes, and moratoriums."
In the year and a half that Ritter has been in office, the energy industry has dealt with several measures that hinder the development of oil and gas in Colorado—including a drastic overhaul of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to exclude members with ties to the energy industry and include individuals involved with environmentalist causes.
“Bill Ritter’s extreme environmentalism shows just how out-of-touch he is with the average Coloradan,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma.
Hitting the $4-a-gallon mark comes on the heels of President George W. Bush’s request that Congress lift its moratorium on oil-shale development in the intermountain west. For companies exploring the viability of shale extraction, the request comes as welcome relief after years of privately-funded research have presented promising developments that could lead to widespread domestic shale production within the decade.
Bush's request sharply divided Colorado’s congressional delegation down party lines, with Republicans charging that Democrats do not appreciate the simple economics of the situation. Democrats responded to Bush by stating their weariness over the reliability of oil-shale extraction technology.
Kathy Hall, the West Slope representative for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association said she thinks politicians - particularly Democrats - need to do more to help alleviate the cost of gas.
"Every politician in office starting with Mark Udall, Ken Salazar and Bill Ritter need to evaluate what they doing to reduce the cost of gas," Hall said. "They're doing everything they can to stop an industry from providing a commodity that we can't live without. They are trying to stymie a strong economy and good industry, and it's costing more and more at the pump."
Oil-shale extraction is a process by which oil and gas are derived from sedimentary rock through a chemical process called pyrolysis — where extreme heat is applied to the rock at which point oil and gas are released in crude forms.
Shell Oil Company has received praise for its new oil-shale extraction technology, but the process has not yet been put to widespread use.
While Szabo concedes that $4 gas is a larger problem than any single state legislator can solve, she believes that the state is sending the wrong message to current and potential energy producers. She has vocally opposed Ritter's recent endorsement of a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to raise taxes on the oil and gas industry. "It's basic economics," she said. "How can we talk about raising taxes on energy producers when people are threatened by the prospect of not even being able to fill their tanks? We need to talk about ways to responsibly expand production, instead of hindering it." Recent polls and foreboding ballot-access deadlines indicate Ritter's initiative will likely not be on this November's ballot.
Several interview requests to Ritter's office and to Department of Natural Resources Chief Harris Sherman were not returned, however Ritter publicly criticized any plans to expand the commercial development of oil shale.
“Breaking our addiction to foreign oil and establishing a secure energy future, economic future and environmental future have to be among our highest national priorities,” Ritter said in a press release sent out Wednesday, denouncing to Bush's call for oil-shale development. “We need to get on with it. And, most importantly, we need to do it responsibly.”
Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, speaking to a group of Republican business leaders Friday, said there is no way to end dependency on foreign oil without tapping domestic resources.
"We shouldn't be afraid to drill in our own backyard," Penry said. "We need to be realistic about the limitations of renewable energy and we're very lucky to have the natural resources we do in our state."
At the same meeting, Duane Zavadil, vice president for government and regulatory affairs for the Bill Barrett Corporation - a regional energy company - said in reference to Ritter's overhaul of the COGCC that he has "never seen anything like it in my twenty years of regulatory-related work in the energy industry."