With a pardon to the Spice Girls I had to ask the headline question. What is it that some of the community voices want for our economy, because if you track the policy evaluations; they don't make any sense.
We have some media outlets calling for spending on the Cinema at the Avalon, the Museum of Western Colorado and I'm sure more spending on public transit etc. etc. etc.
That just sounds fantastic but one wonders where the money is coming from when at the same time many are busily working at making it commercially unfeasible for the oil and gas industry to operate in Western Colorado.
Increased extraction costs make the marginal profit off each well such that lower prices coupled with increased regulatory costs make the business model of operating in Western Colorado less attractive.
It's a little like the city of Grand Junction hoping to grow fat off sales tax revenues almost tied directly to oil and gas exploration while at the same time dispatching their stealthy emissaries to complain to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission about water standards; absent any incidents that have affected the cities water supply.
At a recent energy briefing Senator Penry discussed the Governor's charm campaign to convince voters that the number of requested drilling permits has something to do with the amount of business the companies will do in the state.
Normally, I would say it's entirely possible that our governor does not understand this lack of direction correlation but believe there are folks in his office who can explain it to him.
As Senator Penry put it "a drilling permit has not given one person a job". The real reason for PR push is that the Governor's office as well as the Democrat controlled legislature doesn't want to be seen as having anything to do with job losses, despite the fact that most of the people in Western Colorado know their rear ends from their elbow and get who worries about their jobs and who doesn't.
Clearly the drop in natural gas prices is significantly attributable to reduced demand but there is easily half the equation of lost jobs assignable to uncertainty about Colorado's regulatory process and the clear animosity that the commission has towards the industry.
The industry should be treated neither as our friend nor enemy but as a business partner for whom we need to see prosperity for ourselves to succeed but need to require the proper protections.
We should make it clear to our elected representatives that we expect a strong voice at the table concerning jobs and economic prosperity in Western Colorado and will not meekly allow radicals appointed by a weathervane Governor to destroy a thriving economy.
At the same time we should be clear that we wish to have a business partner in the energy industry that will help us but not leave permanent scars in doing so.
