Reported by CEN Staff

WEST SLOPE  COALITION OPPOSES
ANTI-FRACKING LEGISLATION

The Western Slope’s CLUB 20 sent a lettter to Colorado’s congressional delegation urging opposition to what they term  an anti-fracking, anti-energy production bill moving through Congress and that Reps. DeGette and Polis’ are supporting. The group describes itself as a coalition of people representing businesses, individuals, tribes and local governments in the state’s western counties, and it has been around for years.

Club 20 says it is “Organized for the purpose of speaking with a single unified voice on issues of mutual concern,” and coined the “Voice of the Western Slope,” the group wrote this to their federal legislators:

• By ignoring 35 years of successful state regulatory precedence in protecting groundwater supplies, the FRAC Act demonstrates neither “responsibility” for good public policy nor “awareness” of the facts related to this issue.?

• CLUB 20 believes that Colorado’s groundwater supplies are of critical importance and we applaud the decades-long work of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) for providing an appropriate state regulatory framework to assure the protection of our groundwater supplies from unintended contamination by oil & gas development.?

• Hydraulic fracturing increases the efficiency and productivity of natural gas wells by 400-700%, especially in shales and tight sands which constitute the large majority of natural gas fields on the Western Slope of Colorado. Many of these wells would not be economically viable without the application of this technology.?

• The FRAC Act is an emotionally driven attempt to preempt existing state authority and add an unnecessary and costly regulatory burden on one of our state’s most economically important industries. It represents a costly solution for a problem that does not exist, and will only result in driving up the cost (and thus discouraging development) of one of the cleanest sources of energy (natural gas) that we have available to us.

REPUBLICANS TARGET MARKEY’S ENERGY VOTE

U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey’s vote in favor of last Friday’s clean energy bill is drawing the wrath of Republicans via a newly launched media blitz.

Yesterday, the National Republican Campaign Committee unveiled a robocall set to start ringing on telephones in the Fort Collins Democrat’s 4th District, part of a campaign aimed at Markey and a dozen of her House colleagues.

The NRC is also running a new generic Web ad featuring a clip from President Barack Obama, who said during the 2008 campaign that under his cap-and-trade plan, “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

According to the political website, Politico, the NRCC was “planning to air TV and radio commercials and unleash robocalls” in its campaign against “vulnerable” House Democrats. No television or radio spots will air in Colorado, just the robocalls, says Politico.

NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos told The Colorado Independent the robocalls will reach “thousands” of households in Markey’s district but wouldn’t be more specific, during the next few days.

Markey’s office has not responded to the new media campaign as of yet. She did, however, release this statement following her vote on Friday:

After much consideration and input from businesses, families and farmers across Northern and Eastern Colorado, I supported the American Clean Energy and Security Act. As with any critical piece of legislation, I took my time to hear from constituents, study the bill and work to make key changes. After critical adjustments were made to protect the agriculture industry and an amendment that I offered to help connect Colorado wind farms to America’s wider energy markets was accepted into the bill, I made the decision to lend my support.

It’s time we get serious about reducing our country’s energy costs and saving American families money. We simply cannot afford to continue to send billions of dollars overseas to unstable governments, while we have our own vast energy resources right here in America. It is critical to our long-term economic health.

I was also compelled by the unique benefits this bill brings to Northern and Eastern Colorado. The renewable energy industry is a reality in the 4th Congressional District and this bill brings jobs directly to our community. Quite frankly, Colorado and the Fourth Congressional District in particular, stand to see greater benefits from this legislation than other areas of the country. Latest estimates project that 41,000 households in the 4th Congressional District would see a net income increase as a result of this bill. This was a reality I could not ignore.

I worked hard with my colleagues on the Agriculture committee to ensure that Colorado’s farmers and ranchers reaped the benefits of this bill. I felt that the cost of regulating emissions from farms across Colorado would be far too expensive for agriculture and would result in relatively limited reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I was pleased to see the agriculture industry has been exempted from the emissions provisions in the final version of the bill—this was a critical compromise and without it I would not have supported the legislation. I believe it is vital to Colorado agriculture that ethanol producers, beef farmers and rural electric associations alike are protected from rate increases.

URANIUM MILL NEAR MONTROSE GETS HER PERMITTING APPROVAL

The Montrose County Planning Commission unanimously approved a special permit for the Pinon Ridge uranium mill at a re-opened public hearing late Wednesday following several questions from citizens.

If county commissioners go on to approve the permit for Energy Fuels, the company will be allowed to site a uranium and vanadium mill roughly 12 miles from Paradox. Already zoned for agriculture, milling activity in the area requires the special use permit.

Local permitting approval may be the easy part for Energy Fuels, as it must still seek state approval for its operations, which will likely be a long process.

Opponents, which on Wednesday included actress Darryl Hannah, are fearful of the health risks they say are posed by uranium ore. Some also question whether a special use permit can be granted under an exemption for mining, which, they say, does not specify milling.

At the public meeting, opponents of the uramium mill expressed concern regarding the potential health risks they believe that uranium ore poses. Actress Darryl Hannah, who grew up in the area and still maintains a home in San Miguel County, told reporters, “I’m pretty concerned about short-term thinking leading to a disaster. It’s a regional issue, not just a county issue.”

Other locals, however, said they support the mill because it will create jobs.

DESPITE LOCAL OBJECTIONS, DRILLING PUSHES CLOSER TO RULISON BLAST SITE

After decades of controversy, natural-gas drilling rigs are moving closer to the 1969 Rulison atomic blast site south of Rifle.

Last week a proposal from the U.S. Department of Energy opened the way for drilling sites with radiation monitoring, to push closer to the town of Rifle. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has already issued 84 drilling permits within 3 miles of the site, including 11 within a mile.

In 2008, Noble Energy Production Inc. drilled 21 wells in the area last year and said it is considering drilling within half a mile of the blast zone. “There may be enough of a buffer,” said Judy Jordan, oil and gas liaison for Garfield County, “but without a real assessment of where the contamination is, we are all operating in the dark.”

State and federal officials say that continuing monitoring has turned up no traces of radioactivity. “We are requiring stringent monitoring on these permits,” said David Neslin, the director of the state oil and gas commission.

None of this sits well with nearby residents of the nearby Battlement Mesa development as well as other locals. Their main concern is tritium. Back in 1969, an atomic device was detonated 8,426 feet below Rulison to fracture the rock and boost recovery of natural gas. The explosion did produce nearly 500 million cubic feet of natural gas, but all was useless because it was radioactive. A 40-acre parcel above the blast was declared a no-drill zone.

“Ever since then, it has been a struggle,” Kristy Koeneke told the Denver Post. Her family owns about 300 acres next to the blast site. “We were told not to worry, but when we wanted to drill on our land, we were told it would be a problem. What’s the truth?”

Over the years no radioactive contamination has been detected during tests run by the EPA and U.S. Geological Survey, according to reports filed with the state oil and gas commission.

The DOE estimates the cavity left from the ‘69 blast to be about 518 feet in diameter.