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The voters of Mesa County will soon have the opportunity to remove two of the three county commissioners now in office. For those who vote Republican only, two better-qualified candidates are challenging Craig Meis and Janet Rowland within their own party.
In addition, we will be able to vote on what seems to be a large menu of options to increase the Mesa County Commissioners from three to five members.
The need for these changes becomes more evident with every stand taken by our current commissioners to promote the oil and gas industry as the expense of the citizens of Mesa County. The Feb. 19 Daily Sentinel article concerning the letter sent by commissioners to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission made me shudder. How out of touch are Mies, Rowland and Aquafresca “… asking the commission to seek a balance between energy development and quality of life, listen more closely to the concerns of the industry and move permits along in a ‘timely and efficient’ manner”?
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was revamped at the request of the citizens of the state of Colorado to create a balance. Prior to the passage of House Bills 1298 and 1341, the oil and gas industry was playing with a stacked deck, and (to mix metaphors) held all the cards. Now, we the citizens have members of the COGCC who do not come from the oil and gas industry and have concerns for the health and welfare of the general population. There is still industry representation on the commission, and from many news reports the COGCC members have extended many opportunities for the oil and gas industry to be heard.
The fear mongering by the oil and gas industry, “their” county commissioners and other elected officials at the state level want us to believe that if we do not give them everything they want, the oil and gas industry will pull up its pumps and go away.
Fat chance! Bullying tactics do not work well at any point in life. Mesa County and Colorado citizens deserve, as do all, a quality of life which includes pure water, clean air, safe communities and preservation of what makes our land unique. I have high hopes that the new COGCC will work to protect this quality of life while playing fair with the oil and gas industry.
CAROLE CHOWEN
Grand Junction
6 Responses to “County Commissioners and oil and gas industry”
Posted February 22nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Those are my sentiments, too, Carol. I was taken aback with the commissioners position re COGCC rule making. We elected a legislature that passed a mandate to reform the rules. Now we hear from Meis etal. that the COGCC is not inviting the industry to help them make the new rules. Surprise! I’m pretty sure that the legislature intended that we get rules written and examined without excessive influence from the industry.
Take a look, not only at the Republicans who petitioned onto the primary ballot, but at Dan Robinson, who will oppose Commissioner Meis on the November ballot. Dan is a solid citizen with plenty of experience and a keen understanding of what we in the valley value — the beauty of the place where we live, hiking, biking, hunting, and fishing in Mesa County.
Posted February 23rd, 2008 at 6:22 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
You two are OFF GRID are you not?
Posted February 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Willard Leon Johson is proving to have far too much time on his hands.Inane, hard right comments on just about everything adds nothing to productive dialog but I guess he now has the forum he apparently desperately needed.
Posted February 23rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
“Hard Right”? ME???
More like a good sense of reality.
“nothing productive”, obviously you don’t pay attention.
You want he pretty place to live and hike back?
Stop electing politicians that promise the world and deliver nothing but higher taxes and more government.
You want lower prices and higher wages?
Send the illegal aliens home so they can build a better place there.
Less demand for ALL goods and services. Less demand for housing. This List could go on for a long time.
You don’t like the energy companies drilling here?
Lower the demand by going “off grid”.
How many solar panels are YOUR house? Do YOU have a solar water heater installed?
Posted March 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
I would like to weigh in, *Ripple Effect*
I think this forum will be interesting. Let’s keep it that way. It’s about time there was a place to unload my ADHD thoughts. It’s self diagnosed.
Bush said he couldn’t persuade the the Saudi’s to lower oil prices. Bernacke said Thurs. to committee he was out of tricks in his bag to stem Inflation, reducing interests is wrecking the value of the dollar. “Real inflation last year was 3.5%.” “Oil is the culprit” raising 2/3 of it’s cost in 07. Allard said commodity prices are effected by oil prices which is hurting his constituents.
Bush says we must reduce our **addictions to oil**. Sean, Rush, and others say we must drill here and there to cut our dependence. But in the 70’s at our peak production we only provided 10% of our needs. Drilling anywhere else won’t give us any more than an additional 10%.
County commissioners - current, Kathy Hall - past want to run headlong, full speed ahead. Daily Sentinels’s Brad Stieg’s editorial about Natural Gas doesn’t fit a Black Sunday, and now a city coucilwoman, believe as others that we got the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg - heads up. If we’re not careful we could experience a shock far worse than Black Sunday!
It starts with understanding our addiction and it’s ramifications to it, just like Meth. It has a *ripple effect* that eventually destroys lives and our economy by creating inflative pricing related to increased demand - addiction, right? So how do we fight back? To fight addiction you have to stop. That won’t happen any time soon. We can’t control the price of crude, but we can control demand which directly effects price. How? Reduce the speed limit back to 55 mph again, we save 20% of our total oil consuption per day.
Inflation is our first symptom or sign of the dangers of our addictions. The pains and quality of life as we know it will change. Going to that end can not be made more comfortable. Conquering my addictions have been enlightening, yet painful. I don’t see us conquering our addiction to oil anytime soon, but I do see tempering oil prices on the horizon and alot of it will come with the realization that I saw on faces of the members of Congress that oil prices are the reason for inflation. Decreased consumption decreases demand and prices fall which is the only tool we have to reduce inflation.
What will have the greatest effect upon us are the facts. There isn’t really any shortage of oil but an increase of demand. There isn’t any shortage of natural gas, no one can dispute that fact either. So heads up!
And let’s not act immature in our responses.
Posted April 28th, 2008 at 10:48 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
High Gas Prices?…
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