Yogi Berra's famous "It's like déjà vu all over again!" aphorism applies to this year's election cycle.  When voters open their ballots this fall they will likely be confronted by another round of ballot measures designed to bring about the collapse of Colorado's oil and gas industry.  While the specific course anti-extraction activists will take this year is not yet known, this much is certain: their desire to end the industry's presence in Colorado constitutes an existential threat to the state's economy.

 

Colorado has already seen a broad coalition of business, environmental, political and industry leaders work to pass some of the strictest energy regulations in country.  But for some, it is never enough. A group of largely out-of-state extremists are back with at least 10 proposed ballot measures aimed at crippling Colorado's energy industry. But these new proposals, which include setback restrictions that would make production virtually impossible, are ideological in nature and rooted in hubris, not reason and science.  Plainly, the ultimate agenda is to drive a vital Colorado industry out of state.

 

As an organization, Colorado Concern played a pivotal role in 2014 working successfully as part of a coalition of prominent leaders-including the Governor- to keep the extreme anti-extraction measures off the ballot. Two years later, the activists are eyeing another fight. Colorado Concern will again do all that is necessary to defeat such devastating proposals this fall if they show up on the ballot.  We know that leaders in business and politics will join with us and citizens from the whole state in this undertaking.

 

But what would it look like if they were to succeed?

 

A recent study by the University of Colorado showed that the state's oil and natural gas industry generates nearly $30 billion annually in economic activity and contributes $1.6 billion in public revenues.  More than 50,000 direct jobs are a direct result of oil and natural gas production in our state.

 

CU studied the economic effects of passage of just some of the measures proposed in 2014. It predicted a steady hollowing out of Colorado's economy: 93,000 fewer jobs, $12 billion in lost gross domestic product (GDP) and an annual reduction of $985 million in tax revenue for local and state governments in the first 25 years alone.  The report also underscored that the negative effects would spread to other industries that benefit from the energy industry including retail, construction, real estate and many others.