Time for an independent oil and gas commission
America is facing an energy crisis. Regulators and extreme interest groups have waged war on oil and gas development. Our march towards energy independence has been sidelined by partisanship and far left politics. And now the world is being held hostage to Russia and other OPEC countries.
When will we learn?
Colorado is the case-in-point in what’s wrong with American energy policy. Politics come before people. Instead of having a science-based and consistent regulatory framework, Colorado has been steamrolled by legislative mandates, draconian rule-making processes lasting many months, and an oil and gas commission dominated by partisans.
Reckless new regulations designed to slow or stop most oil and gas development have done exactly what their partisan authors intended. Oil production in our state has fallen nearly 25% since new these anti-development rules were passed in 2019 and put into place in late 2020. And the long term forecast for Colorado is an energy disaster. In 2018, nearly 600 drilling permits were approved. In 2021, there were 5. That is not a typo. 5 permits to drill. Total.
What makes this so outrageous is the voters specifically rejected this type of anti-oil and gas policy in 2018. The Governor and the Legislature were not paying attention.
At a time when gasoline prices are skyrocketing and runaway inflation is causing most, if not all, Colorado families to tighten their belts to afford food, housing, and electricity, is this partisan fueled energy policy really the best that we can do?
It can’t be. We are better than this. We are smarter than this. We’ve tackled tough issues like this before and developed novel solutions that take the partisanship out of important policy decisions, give all sides a say, and result in good policy for everyone in Colorado. It is time to put people ahead of politics.
For instance, Amendments Y & Z, passed by 71% of Coloradans in 2018. Y & Z took one of the thorniest political issues of our time — drawing congressional and legislative district boundaries—and put in place a fair process to remove naked partisanship and raw political power from the discussion, and instead insert fair-minded regular Colorado citizens to make good decisions.
It did so by creating an independent commission of individuals from all sides of the political spectrum and tasked them with drawing boundaries for districts that promoted competition, and kept communities together. Incumbent office holders and partisan interests were pushed aside, and districts were created without their influence.
The results were new district maps that Colorado leaders from all corners of the political spectrum lauded as fair and the result of a much-improved process.
This is exactly what we want to do with energy regulation.
We are proposing a constitutional amendment creating an Independent Oil and Gas Commission (IOGC) that is as far removed from partisan, political, and interest group pressure as possible.
The IOGC would be tasked with regulating oil and gas development in a manner that protects the public health, safety and welfare of citizens in balance with the responsible development of oil and gas resources.
Under our proposal, appointees to the commission couldn’t be lobbyists or activists for either side. They would be Coloradans with relevant experience in public health, environmental regulation, wildlife protection, land use planning, oil and gas operations, earth science, engineering, agricultural stewardship, and resource conservation and management.
The governor and the highest-ranking member of the opposite party in the state Senate would jointly agree on 20 impartial folks with the relevant experience and would forward those names to a panel of retired judges for appointment to the Commission. Those judges would then have to unanimously agree to appoint the six commissioners.
This Independent Commission would be a full-time job for the appointed commissioners and ensure a science based, fair, and safe regulatory structure for oil and gas development.
The regulation of energy development in our state is too important to allow it to be controlled by partisanship and politics. An experienced, impartial, Independent Commission would provide Colorado’s citizens with energy policy and regulation that protects its citizens while allowing responsible development in a consistent way that survives election cycles and focuses on long-term benefits and impacts.
We hope you will join us in supporting an Independent Oil and Gas Commission at the ballot box this November.
Dave Davia is the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Mechanical Contractors Association. Cody Davis is a Mesa County commissioner.
pula.davis@gazettedev.gazette.com
pula.davis@gazettedev.gazette.com