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Energy industry ads draw fire
DENVER (AP) — An ad campaign by the oil and gas industry attacking “job-killing rules” proposed by Colorado regulators is drawing its own share of attacks.
Two trade groups bought ads in Colorado newspapers that ran this week to warn of a “looming threat to Colorado’s economy” from a proposed overhaul of the state’s oil and gas regulations, including a full-page ad published Wednesday.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association have also bought time on radio stations to make their case, saying the new rules would threaten the livelihoods of more than 71,000 people who “go to work at good paying jobs with benefits in Colorado’s oil and gas industry.”
The ads are a lead-in to weeklong hearings on the proposed regulations starting Monday in Denver. The rules would put in place laws requiring that more weight be given to public health, wildlife and the environment when approving oil and gas development.
The problem with the ads, according to critics, is they’re inaccurate and misleading, from the number of oil and gas jobs in the state to the effects of new regulations.
“It’s just more of the same old scare tactics,” said Duke Cox, a western Colorado businessman and member of Western Colorado Congress, a conservation group.
The figure of 71,000 oil and gas jobs comes from a 2007 state-funded study that also said the industry contributed nearly $23 billion in direct and indirect economic benefits in Colorado in 2005. The figure’s been cited by industry officials, legislators and even Gov. Bill Ritter, whose “controversial political appointees” are criticized in the industry’s ads.
But state labor statistics for April list 27,700 jobs in natural resources and mining, which include the oil and gas industry.
The 70,779 jobs in the Colorado Energy Research Institute report encompass direct and indirect jobs as well as industries affected by oil and gas development.
“I think our economists would take some exception to how far that net is cast,” said Bill Thoennes, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
Department economists said a total of 109,000 Colorado jobs could be considered energy related if everything from oil and gas drilling to renewable energy to truckers who deliver supplies is counted.
Thoennes said the number drops to roughly 25,000 when counting direct oil and gas jobs and some support positions. He said it could be argued that other industries are bolstered by Colorado’s natural gas boom. He added that the oil and gas industry has expanded by about 10 percent a year since 2001, making it one of the fastest-growing in the state.
Colorado is seeing record natural gas development, with 6,368 drilling permits issued last year and more expected this year.
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