VOLUNTARY TAX HIKES FOR OIL AND GAS?

The oil and gas industry spent $10.8 million to help bring about the Election Day defeat of Amendment 58, a measure that would have dramatically increased the severance tax the industry pays to the state for extracting resources from Colorado soil.

So it seems counter-intuitive that the industry would now
voluntarily agree to pay even more severance tax, which in
Colorado is currently the lowest among all major
energy-producing states. But that’s exactly what key Western
Slope lawmakers are hoping to accomplish in the coming months.

Republican state Rep. Al White, just elected to represent
gas-rich Senate District 8 in northwest Colorado, said he’s
been in contact with industry officials to discuss drafting a
new ballot measure for November 2009 that would hike the
severance tax, either via a straight increase or by eliminating
property tax credits. It may not increase severance taxes by
quite as much as Amendment 58 sought, White said, but he’s
hoping for industry buy-in.

“We’ve got to look at the industry and say, ‘All right, industry, this is what you’re doing to the state as a whole as well as us [locally],’” said Garfield County Commissioner John Martin, who opposed Amendment 58 but has urged White and other legislators to produce a new measure to increase severance taxes.

“Now we’re asking you to voluntarily increase this through this formula benefiting everyone, including yourselves, and put that legislation forward, and I think we’ll be able to do that this year.”

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LAWSUIT FILED OVER AIR IMPACTS OF GAS WELLS

DENVER - Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop and the  Natural Resources Defense Council have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court  in Denver, arguing that the two federal agencies charged with approving gas drilling in  far-flung Hell’s Gulch failed to take into account the threat of worsening air quality as a result of more gas wells.

The Hell’s Gulch project is proposed for a remote spot south of
Silt, close to where Pitkin, Garfield and Mesa counties join.
Environmentalists have sought to keep the region free from
roads because of its unique position as a wildlife corridor
connecting the Crystal and Colorado River valleys.

“As a result of rapidly expanding oil and gas exploration and
production, air pollution in the communities of Colorado’s
Western Slope has dramatically worsened,” the groups wrote in
their lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys for the NRDC in
Washington and the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Denver.
“Monitoring of air quality in the area, such as in nearby
Garfield County, has documented high levels of ozone.”

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 31, accuses the Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Management of violating the Clean Air Act and
other regulations when it allowed Plains Exploration and
Production Co. to drill up to 45 gas wells on six pads, cut
roads and bring in pipelines, tanks and dehydrator units last
May. It says the agencies failed to take into account the
cumulative impacts of these wells with others spreading across
the region.

Both the NRDC and Wilderness Workshop had unsuccessfully filed
administrative appeals of the decision.

Garfield County conducted a health study recently which found
no “health crisis” due to the gas boom, but researchers said
the rise in chemicals may be causing some residents to get
sick. Air monitors throughout the county generally found fairly
low levels of airborne chemicals, with some notable spikes near
gas wells, which researchers said might cause illness.

A Forest Service analysis found the Maroon Bells-Snowmass
Wilderness Area, downwind from the gas boom, could see 98 days
a year with unacceptable visibility.

BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN TARGETING ENERGY INDUSTRY LAUNCHED

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — Conservation  groups are raising
questions about Colorado’s oil and gas industry by putting up
billboards linking drilling with harmful effects on wildlife,
air quality and land.

The statewide campaign by Colorado Backcountry Hunters and
Anglers, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Grand Valley
Citizens Alliance and other groups also includes newspaper ads.

One billboard along Interstate 70 in western Colorado shows a
deer silhouetted against a backdrop of rigs and wells with the
caption: “Where the deer and the antelope played.”

The groups are urging the Legislature to pass new oil and gas
regulations.

Kathy Hall of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association says
drilling and environmental concerns aren’t mutually

exclusive.