Thanks to innovations such as fracking and horizontal drilling, oil and gas production in Colorado is on track for a second consecutive record breaking year. This past weekend the Denver Business Journal reported that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is tracking production 26% ahead of this time last year. This news is good for Colorado, its workers, and its middle class that rely on cheap and reliable energy sources to work, travel, and play. Perhaps Rep. Polis ought to consider this before rejecting oil and gas development in his district.
A closer look at these numbers reveals even more promising information. Just last week Anadarko Petroleum announced that it would invest more than $1 billion per year over the next several years in its exploration and production activities in the Wattenberg Field. This is on top of the approximately $1 billion that company alone will pump into the Colorado economy in 2013. According to Anadarko’s 2012 annual report, the company drilled more than 400 vertical and horizontal wells in the Wattenberg last year alone. Some of these horizontal wells can easily cost $4 million each to complete.
As the left tries to shut down drilling in Colorado, under the inaccurate protests of junk science, we have to ask how many other industries are as committed to and invested in our state as the oil and gas industry? How many companies out there are looking to plow $1 billion per year in new investment in Colorado – not many outside of this industry. New Belgium Brewery and its fellow frack free brewers certainly are not.
The left’s threat is real and credible though. As we are looking as a second industrial revolution right here in Colorado, there are well-funded organizations in our state that are looking to shut it down with the fervor of a religious zealot. From members of Congress to hard-core environmental activists, there is a strong contingent of Coloradans who are working together to create an environment that is hostile to investment and job creation in our state today. Given their commitment, we have to ask – what’s in it for them?