Colorado State Larry Crowder, District 35, recently penned this Op/Ed piece. The interview also gives a history of the recent issues in Colorado with oil and gas industry, the government and special interest groups.
There are always two sides of any issue affecting Colorado, and this is an opinion against SB19-181.
Colorado had a robust oil and gas extraction until 181 came into play and the ramifications of this bill are extreme and far reaching. Following are just a few of the detrimental effects of this bill.
A) Prior to SB 181, there were 232,900 jobs supported by oil and gas. As of July 2020, there has been a loss of just under 90,000 jobs which were good to high paying jobs.
B) If legislation were to shut down 50% by 2030, there would be 120,000 additional jobs lost and $8 billion in lost tax revenue.
C) 50% of downtown businesses are leased by oil and gas and with their demise this will lead to real estate disaster for that area.
D) 2 1/2% percent of oil and gas is in Southern Colorado and over 90% in Weld County. With a lack of employment opportunities in Southern Colorado, this will be devastating to this region.
E) SB-181 was an open dismissal of the will of Colorado voters, who overwhelmingly voted to reject Prop 112 with 57% voting against extending further setbacks.
F) Severance tax payments to counties will definitely be impacted negatively.
G) Even the Pueblo steel mill opposed 181 with their rebuking opinion page as they realized the effects of 181 to their future operating and employment opportunities.
Another huge problem is this entire bill was based on current technologies on controlling Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) as future technologies developed. We can clean the environment even more without sacrificing jobs and economy.
Colorado cannot achieve its GHG emissions reduction goals by cutting production because the global market will simply replace any lost supplies. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently noted that oil production in his state had declined 60 percent since 1985, but the state has only seen a modest 4.4 percent decrease in demand.
Government cannot and should not pass bills that have this devastation to society while overlooking future ways that both government and business come together and seek solutions instead of eliminating an industry for the sake of an utopian that is ill conceived. I, as my Pueblo counterpart am equally proud of my resistance to this bill.
Spread the word. Support the industry. Share the energy.
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