COGA offers alternate site for Monday meeting

DENVER -- The Colorado Oil and Gas Association has sent a letter demanding a site change for next week's public hearing on proposed changes to oil and gas exploration.

The letter was sent to Harris Sherman, director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and David Neslin, acting director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The letter said Monday's meeting, scheduled for the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver which limits public testimony to four hours, is a "deliberate attempt by the commission to limit public participation in this public meeting." The letter was signed by Meg Collins, president of the association.

Collins pointed out that more than 2,000 people attended a public hearing in Grand Junction earlier this month. The Paramount, she said, has a seating capacity of 1,802 and predicted more people would show up for Monday's meeting than were at the Grand Junction meeting "given the larger population in this region as well as the closer proximity to producing basins like Wattenberg and Raton."

She said COGA is willing to rent space at the Colorado Convention Center, where the meeting was original scheduled. The convention center, Collins said, offers convenient parking and more space for the meeting.