Garfield County May Disband Energy Board

Garfield County’s Energy Advisory Board, created in 2004 as the regional oil and gas industry was growing by leaps and bounds, may soon be dissolved at the request of that same industry.

The county’s oil and gas liaison, Judy Jordan, was told at the end of the Feb. 16 county commissioners meeting to instruct the members of the EAB to sit down and talk about “whether the EAB has run its course,” in the words of commissioner Trési Houpt.

She said the 30 or so members, who represent area municipalities, the industry, community organizations and rural parts of the county, need to determine “how helpful or effective the EAB is, and whether it should be continued or not.”

the rest of the story …

Panel: Natural Gas Fuel Stations Needed in Area

It’s possible to drive from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains using compressed natural gas as fuel. A driver can fill up with compressed natural gas in central Utah and complete the trip to the West Coast.

In between, though, are what the Western Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association is calling the “missing miles,” which happen to run through some of the West’s richest reservoirs of natural gas, where Interstate 70 bisects the Piceance Basin. The Western Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association wrote to U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., last week, asking him to help make compressed natural gas available for use in that stretch as a transportation fuel and to speak at a “Missing Miles Forum” next summer.

The 3rd Congressional District, which Salazar represents, “serves as a national hindrance to CNG-powered alternative-fuel vehicles and is a significant missing link related to national highway connectivity,” the association wrote to Salazar.

The association hopes to build public support for compressed-natural-gas filling stations along Interstate 70 from Denver to Price, Utah, or Cedar City, Utah, said David Ludlam, executive director of the association.

the rest of the story …

McInnis Denies Reality of Gas Regs

(Durango Herald News) This letter is a comment on the story “Gubernatorial hopefuls spar” (Herald, Feb. 11) in which Republican Scott McInnis is quoted as saying: “We will rewrite the oil and gas regulations in the state of Colorado. You will have a governor that understands mining.”

The story continued, saying “The rules took Colorado from the best place to drill for gas and oil to ‘rock bottom,’ McInnis said.”

This is the person who wants to be Colorado’s governor. It appears that McInnis does not accept as valuable or valid the results of a long-overdue, two-year collaborative, inclusive effort to rewrite and adopt regulations that hold the gas industry accountable for its impacts on wildlife, air, land, water and communities. He does not accept analysis from the industry itself that it is not regulation but rather the price of gas, the glut of gas, pipeline capacity and the unwillingness of lending institutions to lend money for drilling that caused the drilling downturn.

He does not accept that Colorado, even with this level of regulation, has fared better than its neighbors, without this level of regulation, in this recent downturn. He does not accept the truth but rather persists in creating distortions. What he does accept is a version of the reality that makes a mockery of the truth. Listen to the campaign rhetoric to learn how a candidate will govern. This is what the person who wants to be Colorado’s governor offers the residents of Colorado.

Josh Joswick, Bayfield

ConocoPhillips Bowing Out of U.S. Climate Action Partnership

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–ConocoPhillips (COP) said Tuesday that it will not renew its membership in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership and will instead focus on reducing near-term greenhouse gas emissions by developing its natural gas operations.

The integrated oil giant joined more than two dozen other companies, organizations and environmental groups asking the federal government to form policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to invest in lower-emitting technologies. Other members include U.S. divisions of major oil companies BP PLC (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) as well as utility, industrial and manufacturing companies.

ConocoPhillips’ announcement to leave to the partnership comes as climate legislation in Washington has stalled and there are mounting concerns about the burden proposals in the House and Senate will have on domestic refiners and U.S. consumers.

The proposed bills “to date have disadvantaged the transportation sector and its consumers, left domestic refineries unfairly penalized versus international competition, and ignored the critical role that natural gas can play in reducing GHG emissions,” said ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Jim Mulva in a press release. Instead, the company will focus on developing natural gas, a lower-emission fuel, as an opportunity to reduce emissions and create jobs.

the rest of the story …

Martin Says GarCo Blundered by Drilling Wells for Groundwater Monitoring

(Daily Sentinel) Garfield County mistakenly drilled water wells without legal authority in attempting to do groundwater monitoring in an area of natural gas development south of Silt, County Commissioner John Martin says.

Martin said county commissioners will discuss today how to proceed with the groundwater monitoring effort, which also prompted concerns from residents because they weren’t notified in advance about the drilling. The county is working to install the wells to gather baseline water quality data to help monitor possible impacts from energy development.

Martin said the situation arose because, while residents want the monitoring, they don’t want the wells on their property unless the county pays them in perpetuity. County oil and gas liaison Judy Jordan tried to get around that hurdle by arranging for wells to be drilled on county roadway easements, Martin said.

However, the county later realized its surface easement rights don’t include the right to drill into the subsurface, Martin said. Jordan couldn’t be reached for comment.

Grand Junction Firm Awarded Grant to Study Mine Methane Emissions in China

Ruby Canyon Engineering in Grand Junction has been awarded a portion of the $400,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Methane to Markets grant.  The engineering and consulting company’s main focus is greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. bcontracting with the University of Colorado, the engineering firm will use the grant to develop inventories of gassy, abandoned coal mines and estimate their methane emissions in the coal-bearing regions of Shanxi and Hebei Provinces, China. The project is scheduled to begin in March 2010.