GOP Leaders Call on State to Extend
Energy-Exploration Permits for Bolstering Economy

August 27th, 2009
feature photo Josh Penry, minority leader of the Colorado Senate from Grand Junction, has already announced he is running for governor. (photo credit: William Woody)
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Reported by Staff

GOP leader Josh Penry and House Republican Rep. Cory Gardner are calling on the Ritter administration to extend energy-exploration permits to bolster the economy. 

In an open letter to the Executive Director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Dave Neslin,  the two encourage the COGCC to help create some level of long term certainty for companies wanting to invest in Colorado’s clean energy economy –  by extending the shelf life of the Application for Permit to Drill (APD) to two years, with an option to extend the permit for an additional year beyond that.

Noting the dramatic drop in drilling permits being issued this year and the number of jobs and investment dollars leaving the state, Penry and Gardner contend the new oil and gas drilling rules which went into effect earlier this year have added difficult hurdles for energy companies, making a bad economic situation much more. 

Interestingly, extending the drilling permit from one year to two is a policy move that COGCC Executive Director, Dave Neslin, has already said bears consideration. He noted that Bureau of Land Management permits for federal lands already are valid for two years.  Neslin told the Commission last week the industry contends having permits last longer provides ease in planning as companies increasingly try to drill multiple wells from a single pad, and as they must meet expanded mitigation requirements under the new rules.

Read the full text of the letter here.

Filed Under: ARCHIVES • Feature Articles • OIL/GAS

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There Are 5 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Cogas on 27 August 2009:

    Mr. Penry and Mr. Gardner certainly have their hearts in the right place. Returning Colorado to a position where oil and gas exploration and production is a favorable enterprise will require much more than adding another year to APDs. It will require a healthy economy and a much more favorable political environment. Until then, our energy economy will languish. And, as these gentlemen point out, our energy economy also fuels jobs, real estate, and other ancillary economies. We don’t have to be the biggest sector of the state’s economy, but making a fair climate for us would be cause for celebration.

  2. Comment by Bridget on 28 August 2009:

    It’s nice to see elected leaders trying to do SOMETHING to stop the bleeding in Colorado’s gas fields. Where’s Ritter? Must be at some solar energy ribbon cutting or something.

    Thanks, Senator Penry and Rep. Gardner. We’ve all got our fingers crossed for next year.

  3. Pingback by Ritter’s week in review: jobs, energy, budget - Rocky Mountain Independent on 28 August 2009:

    [...] he believes that Colorado has pinched oil and gas drillers with its stricter rules on exploration. He wants to extend the life of Applications for Permit to Drill from one year to two, with an option to extend to a third year. [...]

  4. Comment by Jane Spaulding on 29 August 2009:

    Thank goodness you are going to step up to the plate as trying to get elected to the office of Governor of Colorado. We need someone that cares about the whole State,not just someone in their Gold Plated Capital Building acting like a Czar. Ritter (I didn’t vote for him) has been the worst thing since ( hard to remember a worse
    Governor)? He hired 2600 new State Employees two years ago? I wrote him then–never answers. You will notice he never got rid of many of them since he has had to trim (cut) the budget. He has cut the Budget on the backs of Seniors, new tax on vehicles, every place, but himself—. When he came out with that the Colorado Legislature gave him permisson to use tax monies from this physical year for last year, I about died. He was already struggling last physical year to the tune of thousands of dollars. What is he thinking, you can’t borrow from one year to pay for last year without coming up short, shorter this year? Now he acts like he is really doing all of us a favor by cutting all kinds of things? Wow, why don’t you start cutting State Jobs, new hirees that were not needed to begin with. You start by cutting exenses at the State Level before you being squeezing the life out of the Western Slope. I like his comment regarding the new fee imposed on vehicles. Since the Western Slope is not going to get in stimulous moneies, you need to pay for your own roads and bridges. Really, all the monies were going to stay on the Estern Side of the mountain where he is shovel ready? right. This man has managed to screw up Colorado so bad.
    I am really, really ready for someone who will at least acknowledge that there is a Wesern Slope and we need you now, really yesterday.
    Go Josh Penry

  5. Pingback by From “Bridge Fuel” to Major Player in New Energy Economy — Colorado Energy News on 1 September 2009:

    [...] - Urges Pipeline ApprovalDrilling Rules Move a Step Closer After an Intense Debate at the CapitolGOP Leaders Call on State to Extend Energy-Exploration Permits for Bolstering EconomyFeds Want More Time to Respond to Oil Shale LawsuitsColorado’s Natural Gas Industry Reloads [...]

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