Garfield County Energy Board Looks to Refocus

March 23rd, 2009
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By Dennis Webb

Garfield County’s Energy Advisory Board is looking to reaffirm its purpose, amid concern it may have become dominated by industry and unresponsive to residents’ concerns about natural gas development impacts.

“The industry has taken over this board and it doesn’t meet its mission, which is to resolve conflict with landowners and other citizens,” said Rulison resident Marion Wells, who until recently served as an alternate member of the board.

County Commissioner Tresi Houpt said she has heard from others concerned that the board has become another forum for the oil and gas industry, like the Northwest Colorado Oil & Gas Forum. She said that’s not what was intended when the county formed the board several years ago.

“The whole purpose was to offer a really different type of
forum that would allow all of the stakeholders to sit around
the table with equal status and discuss concerns that were
coming up &hellip across the county,” Houpt said.

But Betsy Suerth, the board’s chairwoman and also town administrator in Silt, said she thinks conflict resolution remains a foremost goal for the board. In fact, she said, it is working on approaching county commissioners with a proposal to clean up its mission statement and clarify that its focus is conflict resolution and education.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

Filed Under: ARCHIVES • Western Slope

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