Polis says Colorado oil and gas is thriving. Operators aren’t lining up to drill.

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Wait, Jared Polis lied about oil and gas in Colorado?

By this point, after 8 years of his governorship, I would be more shocked to see Polis be honest about something.

The Independence Institute puts some context to a talking point often repeated (and no, not just Polis) about oil and gas in Colorado: high oil prices compared with the number of wells in Colorado show just how healthy that industry is here, and/or that the industry hasn’t suffered under the last few years of regulation and law.

That report is linked below.

As the author, Sarah Montalbano, puts it in response to claims about how the oil and gas industry are “thriving” (such as that made by Polis in his state of the state address last January): “It wasn’t true at the time, and even with the high oil prices seen today, Colorado operators aren’t leaping into the permitting queue for new wells.”

I’ll leave it to you to read up on the piece and see the data Montalbano puts behind her claim, but the dynamics here are not hard to understand.**

I’ve been a teacher for decades by this point. I could easily come close to doubling my salary if I chose to try and move into administrative positions (something easily achieved with a modicum of schooling).

Nope. Not interested. It’s not the preparation either; I’ve seen what administrators have to do, and I can tell you that the extra money is not worth it.

Same with oil. Prices might be high, but high prices alone don’t make it worth it to get oil out. To do that you have to tangle with the regulatory hydra lawmakers have set up in this state.

Montalbano puts some numbers to it that help illuminate. Quoting again:

“… the permitting timeline in Colorado means that operators must wait almost ten months to reach a hearing on submitted drilling plans. In Texas, operators have their permits in days. How can companies respond to price signals under these conditions?”

Exactly. Price is important yes, but it’s not the only thing.

Looking ahead at who will almost certainly be our next governor and I have to say that I don’t see the rules around oil and gas drilling lightening up. If anything, I would bet they’ll tighten even more.

When we have even less oil and gas exploration than under Polis (with the loss of tax revenues that our state has depended on from such activity for decades now), I wonder what the story will be from the governor’s office then.

**See, for example, screenshots 1 and 2 with their accompanying explanations which clearly show that despite high prices, Colorado’s oil and gas isn’t starting new wells nor recovering after previous low oil prices. Any embedded links shown in the screenshots can be found in the piece below.

https://i2i.org/colorado-oil-and-gas-isnt-thriving-even-with-high-prices/

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

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