Colorado Energy Business - Gas, Oil, Drilling, Pipelines (Denver, Dacono: transplants, real estate)

[Mike from back east]

The Rocky is starting a 4 part series today on this subject.

First Installment, 10 Dec: 33,000+ wells now pumping, thousands more planned, tax issues troublesome for when it dries up:
- Stakes high as billions head Colorado's way : Oil and Gas : The Rocky Mountain News

[Mike from back east]

The Rocky has a 4 part series on this subject.

Second Installment, 11 Dec: Drilling in the Roan Plateau, environmental concerns.

Drilling operations reshape landscape : Oil and Gas : The Rocky Mountain News

[jazzlover]

Good info, Mike. Colorado's energy boom is a mixed blessing. It is causing huge growth and bringing a lot of money into western Colorado. But, it is also bringing a lot of negative impacts to the region--many of them not even directly attributable to the actual drilling and production. The real problem with the kind of explosive growth that energy production brings (and not just in Colorado) is that the production (and wealth generation) itself only lasts for so long--years, maybe even decades, but all of the impacts of the growth--sprawl, fiscal impacts on government, etc.--tend to stay behind long after the boom is over. Unlike Wyoming, which has a Permanent Mineral Trust Fund to accumulate revenues while the boom is on that can later by used to mitigate those impacts when the boom ends, Colorado--thanks to the ill-conceived TABOR amendment--can not fiscally prepare for that future. That voter-initiated fiscal stupidity will cost Coloradans plenty when the boom ends--and end it will, probably sooner than most people think.

One of the saddest aspects of Colorado's decade-plus boom in real estate and energy is the fact that it has intoxicated so many Coloradans into thinking that it can go on forever, and that no provisions need be made for less robust times. Sort of like the ant and grasshopper fable where the grasshopper, intoxicated by the warm days of summer, can't be worried about preparing for the inevitable winter ahead.

[Mike from back east]

What bothers me from part 1 of the series is the CO "severance tax" is so small; after gas & oil run out, the severance fund runs out soon thereafter. Worse, what was collected over the years was misspent. IMO, CO needs to pump up this fund and set it aside for the rainy day in oil patch that WILL come, some day. Otherwise, out of state firms doing oil & gas work will rape CO the way the oil, gas, chemical and coal industries raped WV for 125 years.

[Mike from back east]

The Rocky has a 4 part series on this subject.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...and-have-nots/

Third Installment, 12 Dec: Trouble getting & keeping school teachers as new teachers earn only half what oil & gas workers earn; long waits to get a tradesmen; tons of low paying jobs go vacant; roads wearing out; effects on salaries of other workers; generosity of oil & gas firms to create goodwill; rising crime and a growing police force; governments straining to meet growing demands; etc. The times there are, in a word, tumultuous.

s/Mike

[Mike78613]

Mike-

Interesting article (last one). This caught my eye (the last sentence):


For example, in the tri-town area of Firestone, Frederick and Dacono, building permits for new houses increased three-fold in the past four years to 2,558 this year.

"There is a conflict between development and energy production," said Weld County Finance Director Don Warden.

* Garfield County's Smith said the sheriff's department asked for 25 new positions in 2008, nearly 20 percent over its current force level, to combat escalating crimes. "That blew us right out of the water," Smith said.

The county commissioners have yet to approve any new positions.

Although the county's crime rate is increasing at 20 percent a year, the same as its population, certain types of crime - such as drunken driving and drug busts - are rising at a higher rate.


-If I was a resident I would not be to happy about that kind of increase!! Now, from what researched, I got the vibe that Weld County residents were more about family and saftey and being away from Denver due to the crime. Even though this is a 'great' impact to have more jobs avaliable, not really sure why the crime rise will be projected to be that much. 20% is pretty high for just one year.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

The Rocky has a 4 part series on this subject.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...and-have-nots/

Third Installment, 12 Dec: Trouble getting & keeping school teachers as new teachers earn only half what oil & gas workers earn; long waits to get a tradesmen; tons of low paying jobs go vacant; roads wearing out; effects on salaries of other workers; generosity of oil & gas firms to create goodwill; rising crime and a growing police force; governments straining to meet growing demands; etc. The times there are, in a word, tumultuous.

s/Mike

The same things were/are happening in the energy patch in Wyoming. The difference there is:

1. They've been learning to cope with it for a lot more years.

2. The energy boom is, for the most part, going on in desolate areas of Wyoming not especially attractive to retirees, tourists, etc.

3. Wyoming actually has, as I have mentioned before, a Permanent Mineral Trust Fund and other tax policy to address current impacts of energy development and to fiscally prepare for the day that the boom is over. Colorado, for the most part, doesn't. Unlike so many recent transplants to Colorado, most Wyoming folks both know and remember what happens when the energy patch busts. Not many of today's Coloradans were around Colorado (though I am one who was) when that happened the last time.

4. There a only a little over 500,000 residents in the state, compared to 4 million or so in Colorado.

[Mike from back east]

The Rocky has a 4 part series on this subject.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...es-nine-views/

Fourth and final installment, 13 Dec: Compares tax rates btw WY (11.2%) to CO (5.7%) to NM (9.4%); views of Governor, County Commissioners, Industry reps. Some think that CO is selling it's resources at bargain basement prices.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

The Rocky has a 4 part series on this subject.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...es-nine-views/

Fourth and final installment, 13 Dec: Compares tax rates btw WY (11.2%) to CO (5.7%) to NM (9.4%); views of Governor, County Commissioners, Industry reps. Some think that CO is selling it's resources at bargain basement prices.

There are many who think that Wyoming's severance tax at 11.2% is not high enough--considering both the long-term impacts of energy development and the fact that the "golden goose" ain't going to be laying eggs forever. That should add to the concern in Colorado, since both reserves of coal and gas, as well as the production of both is a fraction in Colorado of what it is in Wyoming. As an example, there was a statistic quoted a few years ago stating that, if Wyoming were an independent country, it would have the 8th largest coal reserves in the WORLD.

[Mike from back east]

Gas drilling may come to the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Great Sand Dunes National Park complex. Lots of people are real upset with that. Full story at: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7755288

I have mixed emotions on issues like this. I believe we're in a race for energy, but don't like degrading our environment. I don't see a way out of the energy box the world is in. At least this gas is OUR gas, not OPEC's....