With all the insanity with polling and political news last week, it was easy to miss this shocking headline – Weld County Had Largest Percentage Increase in Employment Nationally. That’s right, Weld County had the largest increase in employment not just in Colorado, but across the entire country. From The Denver Post:
“Hiring in Weld County continues to outpace employment gains among the nation’s 339 largest counties, led by new jobs in construction and oil and gas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics….Drilling has helped employment in the region grow more quickly than the state or nation, kept unemployment rates lower and propelled rapid home appreciation, Lewandowski said.”
According to the report, Weld had a 7.5 percent increase over the 12 months ending in March. To put that in context, across the country, employment gained only 1.7 percent. With oil and gas being such a bright spot in our state’s economic recovery, one would think that the state’s leaders would bend over backwards to protect these badly-needed jobs and economic stimulus. You would be wrong. Because of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s lack of leadership, fractivists, whose beliefs are not even based in science, have run amok in the state, led by Drilling Drama Queen Jared Polis and radical East Coast environmental groups.
Even worse, after the fractivists held the state’s economy hostage to their unreasonable demands, Hick suggested a(nother) Blue Ribbon Panel to resolve the situation. Instead of filling it with rational and reasonable folks, fractivists have an outsiszed influence on this panel, starting with it’s co-chair Gwen Lachelt. The first meeting of the task force is this week. We can’t wait.