Enjoy the paper as usual. I especially enjoyed the fact that the county has begun an informational column titled “The County Cubicle.” I believe the dialogue will be very useful. So in order to put the article “Drill, baby, drill” into prospective with a solid footing, I would like to present information that is of record via the EIA, COGCC, Baker Hughes and other reference sources regarding the base statistics presented in the column and…
Letter: Regulations holding back gas exploration
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Mr Meece thinks he has done his homework but the main reason very little new drilling activity has occurred in the Piceance Basin is 1. Economy downtown under the waning years of Bush (GW) regime; 2. glut of natural gas on market and lack of infrastructure to move it around the USA; 3. Did I say economic downtown turn–oh yes, I did so I can stick with just two reasons today.
The new regulations are not any more hindering extractive industries than the cheap petroleum products from foreign countries. “Responsible extraction of natural resources” is what British Petroleum (BP) said they were doing prior to the Deepwater incident; Tony Hayward lost his spokesperson position after saying he wished he could “get his life back” among other irresponsible actions on his part. If you would like the same type of ignore the risks, full speed ahead go visit Pinedale WY where the night sky is lit by the extraction industry; where migration routes for native animals have been disruptive and may cause far more damage than anyone but National Geographic will report (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature5/index.html); or visit Salt Lake City where a few weeks after the BP spill began, 20,000 gallons of oil were spilled into a Red Butte Creek (June 12, 2010; http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700039797/Oil-spill-in-Red-Butte-Creek-threatens.html); or the 2.5 million gallons of oil and drilling fluids spilled in Colorado over the last 2 1/2 years (June 28 2010; http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15391192?source=email); or maybe you like the idea of having flammable drinking water like the folks of Ft. Lupton (May 2009; http://cbs4denver.com/local/fort.lupton.water.2.963978.html).
Don’t get me wrong, I know I am part of the problem since I do drive a gasoline-powered vehicle for out of town errands; I use electricity and natural gas for heating my home, water, cooking, etc. But I do not want to see the landscape destroyed when everyone can conserve, use the non-renewable (and renewable) resources more wisely. I am writing this on a computer made of lots of petroleum by-products. However, extractive industries within the natural gas and oil realm need to be responsible in their business activities and for the most part they are. The “new” regulations are 1-2 years old and ARE not the reason there was a drop in activity in Colorado.
I also know that if you cannot grow what you need, you will need to mine the resources our society’s insatiable appetite for “things.” I believe extraction can and will be done correctly–which sometimes means governments must regulate and consumer products just might cost more. As long as I can breathe clean air, drink clean water and reuse, recycle and reduce my consumption, I won’t complain about these regulations.
For another point of view, see Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/articles/e-mail-letters-july-9-2010.