FRACK WARS HIT THE SILVER SCREEN: FrackNation To Screen In Boulder Opposite Gasland 2 Tomorrow Night

Published on May 21, 2013 by

In a battle of fact vs. fiction, two fracking documentaries are set to air in Boulder tomorrow night.

FrackNation will be airing at the Boulder Marriott at 6:30 p.m. which IMDB describes as:

Journalist Phelim McAleer faces bogus lawsuits, gun threats and intimidation questioning environmentalists and anti-fracking activists in his search for the truth.

At the same time, the Michael Moore-esque Gasland 2 will be screened at CU Boulder. 

You can sign up to see FrackNation here.

If you’re more in a fiction mood, you can get tickets to Gasland 2 here.

 

A(NOTHER) TIME TO CHOOSE: Renewable Boondoggle Forces Hickenlooper To Pick Between Rural Colorado & His Party’s Wing-Nut Environmentalist Base

Published on May 2, 2013 by

SB252, the bill to double the renewable energy mandate for rural electric co-ops, is shaping up to be a major political headache for Governor Hickenlooper.

It’s quickly become a major inflection point in Hickenlooper’s balancing act, pitting his pledge to govern from the political center against his hardcore environmentalist base.

On one side of the choice are environmentalists who bring lots of mother’s milk to Hick’s Democratic party…big bucks. From Clean Water Action to Conservation Colorado to the League of Conservation Voters, the environmentalist movement in Colorado is both well-funded and well-armed with armies of costumed protesters and canvassers ready to do political battle on behalf of Democratic candidates.

On the other side is everyone else…rural Colorado, ratepayers, the business community, companies that keep the lights on, and even unions and the liberal Denver Post editorial board.

Strange bedfellows, indeed, opposition to the bill has created.

Hick has already angered the environmentalist movement by swilling fracking fluid and threatening a veto on a bill to ban oil and gas companies from having a seat on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Will he have the political wherewithal to anger them again and veto SB252?

UPDATE: A reader writes in to note that Hickenlooper had a 94% approval rating among self-described “very liberal” voters according to the latest PPP Colorado poll. That would imply that while a veto of SB252 would anger the environmental elites, he has plenty of political wiggle room with the rank and file.

 

GO FRACK YOURSELF: Bipartisan Renunciation Of Matt Jones’ Anti-Fracking Lawsuit Amendment

Published on April 10, 2013 by

About two weeks ago an amendment came up for debate in the Colorado Legislature that received virtually no press coverage, but which has enormous ramifications for the wider energy debate in Colorado. Boulder County Democrat Senator Matt Jones proposed banning the state from spending money to sue cities or counties who decide to violate state law and unilaterally ban fracking, as Governor Hickenlooper has promised to do.

The interesting part is the amendment died on voice vote, ensuring there was no record of who sided with Hickenlooper over the anti-fracking activists. Democrats, it seems, were hoping environmentalists wouldn’t notice.

Seeing that Democrats had a majority on the committee, and the amendment lost, at least a few of them voted against the amendment — we just don’t know which ones.

According to a legislative source, the purpose of the amendment was:

Adds a footnote stating that is is the General Assembly’s intent to preclude state agencies and the Department of Law from using state funds to initiate litigation challenging city and county regulation of oil and gas activity.

A big win for oil and gas. A big loss for anti-fracking enviros. And some serious ‘splaining to do on the part of legislative Democrats to one of their core constituencies.

 

A MAN WITHOUT A HOME: Hickenlooper’s Standing Taking On Water From All Sides

Published on April 2, 2013 by

OUR VIEW: Governor Hickenlooper has lost his base and his moderate trump card. Who will stand with Hickenlooper? At this point, that is as hard to figure out as where Hickenlooper himself stands with every issue in the headlines.

Something interesting is happening at the top levels of the Colorado political hierarchy. For the first time ever, Governor John Hickenlooper is in hot water.

For two years, Hickenlooper seemed like a moderate. We say seemed because he was actually only allowed to fake moderation, since all the really bad liberal bills died in the Republican House.

But now Hickenlooper seems like a governor without a home. 

Even though Hick just sold his soul to Mike Bloomberg and Barack Obama on gun control, that bought him exactly nothing from the nut-jobs on the left.

From the left-wing Colorado Pols:

For all of his political success, it must be noted that Hickenlooper has never really had to deal with any intense, sustained public opposition since he was first elected Mayor of Denver. There have been spats, sure, but nothing that Hick couldn’t easily sidestep before things got sticky…until now. 

…In today’s fracking “debate” at the University of Denver, Hickenlooper tried several times to duck tough questions with his folksy brewer dance, but instead of getting him out of a jam, it just made him look, well, stupid. It wasn’t charming. It wasn’t cute. But he kept pushing it, all the way up until the end of the debate, when he went one step too far in a poor attempt at a joke that ended up sounding more like an insult.

How stupid was Hickenlooper’s move on guns? He destroyed himself with Republicans and gun-loving moderates, and got no credit and nothing in return from his wacked out base.

Whomever is running the Governor’s political shop should be fired.

Pols takedown of the Guv caused Hickenloopers’s political adviser, Alan Salazar, to dismiss the post on Twitter as “mostly an ad hominem snark attacking the Guv. Thin on actual policy.”

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ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER REGULATION: Democrats Introduce More Oil and Gas Regs

Published on March 21, 2013 by

On Monday, House Democrats continued to roll out their package of oil and gas regulations with three new bills (and countless unintended consequences) – HB13-1267, HB13-1268, and HB13-1269.  Here’s a quick primer on what each would do:

HB1267: Requires increased fines for oil and gas companies.  According to the Denver Business Journal, this bill specifically would:

“…increase the maximum daily fine to $15,000, sets a minimum fine of $5,000 per violation for day for violations that have “a significant adverse impact on public health, safety or welfare, including the environment and wildlife resources,” and repeal the cap on the maximum fine amount.”

HB1268: According to the bill summary, would “require a seller to disclose in the sale of real property that a separate mineral estate may subject the property to oil, gas, or mineral extraction.”

HB1269: HB1269 is more complex than the previous two.  It alters the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to “to ensure that the development of oil and gas resources protects public health, the environment, and wildlife resources.” The bill also prevents a COGCC commissioner from concurrently serving as a commissioner and as an “employee, officer, or director of an operator or oil and gas service company.”

Unfortunately, unnecessary regulation of industries often leads to unexpected snafus.  Take, for instance, the Fort Collins ban on fracking near neighborhoods.  As it turns out, Prospect Energy, a subsidiary of Black Diamond Minerals, has been drilling in the area since the early 20th century and urban sprawl has run into their drilling activities.  Scott Hall, the CEO of Black Diamond explained the situation to the Denver Business Journal:

“This field was discovered in 1924 and it was in the middle of nowhere.  And what’s happened is urban sprawl. The city has come to us. It annexed us and then they zoned it residential. It was their choice.”

Further, as oil and gas has been one of the fastest growing industries in Colorado, over-regulation of an already highly-regulated industry could have a negative impact on job growth and the possible tax base from state-based industry.  For a legislature that claims that jobs and the economy are “priority number one”, this is just another example of Democrats saying one thing and doing another.

 

NEXT FIGHT: Democrats Target Jobs in Oil and Gas

Published on March 11, 2013 by

While the majority of the the news coming from the Capitol has focused on the Democrat-sponsored gun control package, Democrats quietly will roll out a job-killing and pointless fracking regulation package this week, according to the Denver Business Journal.  As usual, Senate Democrats obfuscate the true meaning of the legislation with nonsensical double speak:

Senate Majority Leader Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, called the measures an “economy development-in-energy” package. But House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, immediately referred to it as a “job-killing plan.”

Details on the new package from Democrat Senator Morgan Carroll unsurprisingly were few, but Carroll told the DBJ to expect “some bills dealing with the health issues on fracking.”

The need for such legislation might surprise some Coloradans as just last month a study of an Erie well found that health risks from emissions of area natural gas wells were low.  From a Denver Post article, written for the Daily Camera by reporter Joe Rubino:

“The monitored concentrations of benzene, one of the major risks driving chemicals, are well within acceptable limits to protect public health, as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” the state’s report on its findings read. “The concentrations of various compounds are comparatively low and are not likely to raise significant health issues of concern….”
Further, the consultant who conducted the study in Erie, Cynthia Ellwood of Lakewood-based Pinyon Environmental Inc., noted the following:
“…She could say that based on her findings, a lifetime of exposure to those levels were unlikely to result in adverse health effects for people.”

Despite similar studies with similar results conducted across the country, environmentalists refuse to believe that fracking does not pose a health hazard. Their willful ignorance of the scientific facts can only be explained by the fact that the results don’t support their reason for existence. Further, now that Democrats hold the State House, State Senate, and the Governor’s Mansion, it’s time to payback their funders, many of whom are heavily invested in green technology, which is in competition with natural gas. 

If Democrats want to kill natural gas production in Colorado, that’s an election consequence. But, let’s not pretend it’s in the name of “health” – let’s call a spade a spade and recognize that its simply time to payback their friends. 

 

FRACKING DISSIDENTS: Oil and Gas Industry Finding New Ways to Protect Itself

Published on January 16, 2013 by
http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Hick-Longmont-Fracking-Protest.jpg

Hick is welcomed by anti-fracking protesters

In case readers thought that environmentalists who opposed fracking (despite scientific evidence that should assuage their concerns) were just harmless idiots, think again.  Those supposed do-gooders may be compromising Colorado’s energy economy.  According to a Denver Business Journal article, “as the public outcry over oil and gas fracking operations has increased, so have the potential liability claims.  That has insurance companies scrambling to determine the best ways to cover oil and gas companies.”

As the entire state of Colorado now knows, fracking uses water, sand and chemicals to crack layers of rock far beneath the surface of the earth to release oil and natural gas trapped by the layers of rock.  The primary concern of environmentalists is groundwater contamination, a fear that was inflamed, so to speak, by the movie “Gasland”, which interviewed a CO family who could light their tap water on fire.  Nevermind that reports of flammable methane seeping into groundwater naturally had been present since the 1970s, far before fracking was introduced.

Nationwide Insurance announced in July 2012 it wouldn’t cover damages related to fracking as general liability coverage wasn’t designed to cover fracking.  To be clear, the new policies that fracking operators must obtain have nothing to do with scientific findings, only media scare tactics.  Here is what environmental marketing specialist at IMA insurance, Amanda Davies told the DBJ about the new market for these policies:

“The insurance marketplace has really had to evolve and react to the media and the general public’s response to fracking in the last couple of years.”

No, the insurance company hasn’t had to react to new scientific findings, just mass hysteria on the part of the media and the general public.  And Matt Damon.  While Colorado is scheduled to benefit greatly from fracking, it’s hurdles like having to find new insurance to appropriately cover core business activities that slow the process down and increase costs.  In turn, the projected benefits that Colorado actualizes diminish.  That hurts everyone.

 

OPENING DAY: A View Of What’s To Come

Published on January 9, 2013 by

It’s opening day at the Colorado State Legislature with a record-breaking 31 brand new legislators just getting their feet wet. As Democrats, who control the Colorado State House and Senate, ponder just how to talk about moderation while kowtowing to their left-wing, fracktivist, gun-grabbing base, we wonder:

1) Will Democrat Sen. John Morse really introduce a bill that requires funding from TABOR while he works to decimate the program?

2) Will Evie Hudak finally admit that she’s really Rodney Dangerfield in disguise?

3) Will Democrats force anti-gun measures through the State House and Senate over the will of the people?

4) Just how much influence will unions have in legislation? Will Michael Johnston get his way or will the Burly Union Bride ride roughshod over his reform agenda?

5) Just how much will the Democratic legislature step on the throat of the oil and gas industry, one of Colorado’s fastest growing industries? If the legislative session were a movie will it be more Gasland or FrackNation?

6) Will journalist radio host strategist the unemployed David Sirota turn up as a Democratic legislative aide in this year’s Democratic-controlled legislature following his unceremonious firing from Clear Channel?

7) How much bubbly did trial lawyers buy to celebrate Morgan Carroll as Senate Majority Leader?

8) Who will be the first legislator to be pulled over for a DUI?

9) Who will be the first legislator caught looking at porn on their new taxpayer-funded iPads?

 

DENVER POST’S NEW NAME: The Gun Control Is Great, Fracking Is Terrible Daily Tribune

Published on January 7, 2013 by

Let us be short and sweet in this particular piece of commentary.

Hardly a day goes by when The Denver Post does not present a journalistically disreputable attack on its printed pages and/or on its web version, antagonizing against gun ownership and hydraulic fracturing. It is as if Sarah Brady and Pete Maysmith did the deed in the back of a Ford Mustang, and the Dee Post is their gnarly, one-sided spawn.

How many times does Dianna DeGette’s introduction of an ill-fated gun proposal deserve mention? Frequently, if you are the Ginger-highlighted DC scribe for the state’s daily newspaper.

How often must we hear from creep-show environmentalists that Colorado’s oil and gas rules, almost unanimously regarded as the most stringent in the nation, are something other than that? Why, every day, if you are the anti-drilling correspondant named Bruce Finley of The Denver Post.

With writers like these, no wonder there are no readers.

 

DVR ALERT: FrackNation Coming to a TV Near You

Published on December 20, 2012 by

In 2010, the movie Gasland emerged as a hit piece against the fracking industry, an important industry to Colorado’s economy.  Next month, Matt Damon, clueless about the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund that bankrolled his movie, will star in The Promised Land, yet another attempt to bury the industry.  Now, three investigative journalists have made a documentary about fracking to refute some of the claims levied by Gasland‘s “expert” (or notsomuch) director Josh Fox and as a response to The Promised Land called FrackNation.

While the documentary has been discussed for over a year now, this week AXS TV (that’s pronounced “access”), owned by Mark Cuban, Ryan Seacrest, and Creative Artists Agency (Hollywood talent agency), among others snagged the rights to FrackNation.  The film is slated to air on January 22, 2013 at 9:00 p.m. ET on AXS TV, which, in Denver, is channel 340 on DIRECTV, channel 664 on Comcast, and channel 362 on DISH.

Phelim McAleer, the filmmaker behind the Cuban-dubbed OpEdocumentary, explained the rationale behind the movie:

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