HomeMy WebLinkAbout20222522.tiffSeptember 20, 2022
Dear Governor Polis,
Commissioner Scott K. James
Office: 970.400.4209
Cell: 970.381.7496
sjames@weldgov.com
Thank you for your letter dated September 19th, 2022, regarding the letter addressing oil and gas
permitting. We appreciate your response and share your commitment to collaboration between local
and state governments. Weld County takes great pride in our environmentally sound, effective, and
expedient oil and gas permitting process. Weld County and our citizens humbly embrace our role of
fueling and feeding our state, nation, and world.
We greatly appreciate Director Robbins and COGCC Commissioners visiting Weld County on
September 8`" and believe our conversations were honest and educational and we share your
excitement about future conversations. Our Oil and Gas Energy Department Director, Jason Maxey,
and County Attorney, Bruce Barker, have judiciously worked with COGCC Staff to develop a
positive, trust -filled relationship, and look forward to continuing those open lines of communication
in the future.
As the free market drives the consumption of energy, Weld County leads via a clearly defined
permitting process for both traditional and renewable energy producers alike. It is important to the
Board of County Commissioners and County staff that energy producers have a predictable and
certain process. We are confident we offer that assured process and are excited to continue our work
with state agencies to pave a way to the energy security and the economic growth strived for in Weld
County.
The Weld Board of County Commissioners and staff appreciate your commitment to pursuing
additional COGCC staffing and capacity to provide for consistency and timeliness and stand ready to
assist you in these efforts in any way possible. We share your excitement over our continued
partnership!
Sincerely,
Scott K. James, Chairman
Weld Board of County Commissioners
CC: Jeff Robbins, COGCC Commissioners, Weld BOCC, Mark Silberg, Jason Maxey, Bruce Barker
Office of the Board of County Commissioners
1150 O Street, P.O. Box 758
Greeley, Colorado 80632
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COLORADO
Governor Jared Polls
September 19, 2022
Dear Leaders of Weld County,
I am writing in response to your letter dated September 8, 2022, regarding oil and gas
permitting. My administration is proud of the work we have done to continue oil and
gas development in Colorado with the highest levels of environmental performance
and setting new norms for the oil and gas industry, a value that your companies share
and that Weld County has been a leader in.
The economic and workforce rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic has been a
challenge for our State, as it has all over the world. While you are correct that
Colorado has rebounded quickly as a whole, opportunities to expand employment and
investment in your communities, and in communities across Colorado, remains a
primary focus of my administration's work.
While we transition to a renewable energy future, Colorado's oil and gas industry will
continue to be a leader in the transition and an important bedrock to the economy of
many communities in Colorado, including yours. I understand your conversations with
the COGCC Commissioners during their visit to Weld County on September 8 offered a
similar sentiment- that while demand for oil and gas products persists, it must be
done as cleanly as possible, and domestically and we can do so in Colorado. The
recent global events disrupting oil and gas supplies and prices only further reinforce
the importance of our contributions to energy security and economic growth. I share
these values and goals.
Collaboration between local and state governments is critical to advancing these
objectives, and I am grateful to our COGCC Commissioners for joining you for a first
in-depth conversation together last week. We look forward to many such
conversations in the future. While these meetings can help provide for a more
efficient and effective permitting process that still upholds the highest performance
and quality of future oil and gas development, we also understand that implementing
the Mission Change rule and other efforts at COGCC require resources, too. For that
reason, I am committed to working with the General Assembly to pursue additional
staffing and capacity at COGCC to provide for a more consistent and timely
completion of permits into the future while pursuing continual improvement in the
technology and operations of oil and gas facilities across the State.
Thank you for taking the time to write, and I look forward to our continued
partnership to advance our mutual goals.
Sincerely,
Jared Polis
Governor
State of Colorado
August 23, 2022
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PHONE: 970-400-4200
FAX: 970-336-7233
1150 O STREET
P.O. BOX 758
GREELEY, CO 80632
The Honorable Jared Polls
200 East Colfax Ave., Room 136
Denver, CO 80203
Dear Governor Polis,
We want to thank you for your continued service to Colorado, and we want to welcome your newest
appointments, Commissioners Michael Cross and Brett Ackerman, to the Colorado Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission. We look forward to working with the new Commission and its staff to help
facilitate a more efficient and beneficial oil and natural gas application process in the future.
The oil and natural gas industry represents a significant part of our economies, our workforce and our
consituencies, and thus, the application and permitting process is of great deal of concern to us. The
devastating results of the COVID-19 pandemic on this industry during 2020 and 2021 have been
particularly difficult for our region and our residents. A recent The Colorado Sun article spoke about the
economic rebound in Colorado following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article cited statistics
showing the entire state has largely recovered from the economic downturn except for the Fort Collins and
Greeley areas. "Only two regions in the state haven't recovered all the lost jobs. The Fort Collins metro
area has recovered 97% of jobs lost, while the Greeley region is still down 4,800 jobs having recovered
just 59% of jobs lost."
Not surprisingly because the oil and natural gas industry is such a major employer, the article confirms its
slow recovery is affecting the recovery of our communities. "The decline in mining and logging is to blame.
The industry, which includes oil and gas companies, not only hasn't recovered, it continues to shed jobs. It
lost 2,400 jobs in the first two months of the pandemic, but is still down 3,400 jobs since April 2020."
In a year where oil prices have topped $100 per barrel, the industry is clearly incentivized to get back to
work in our communities. However, industry analysts say the significant uncertainty created by inefficient
permitting at the COGCC is to blame for the industry's reduced investment and activity in Colorado.
We want to encourage you to continue to find ways to more efficiently and expeditiously process these
applications and build certainty for the operators and employees (our citizens) to see and anticipate a path
to approved applications. Colorado sits on the cutting edge of the latest
technologies and the strongest regulations and we should promote our development here as the best place
to produce the energy we need.
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OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PHONE: 970-400-4200
FAX: 970-336-7233
1150 O STREET
P.O. BOX 758
GREELEY, CO 80632
That starts with building certainty for companies to invest and produce here and serve as a welcoming
environment for responsible operators to retain and hire workers in our region. As you know, oil and natural
gas development creates opportunities for the industry, service providers, truck drivers, hotels, restaurants
and more. Our communities and our region rely on these opportunities to support our families and our
public services.
Governor, we are asking you to help our communities recover by permitting the oil and natural gas
development that our state, our country and the world desperately needs right now.
We want to be a partner with you and your staff to protect and foster this economic activity that is critical
to the Colorado economy.
Again, we thank you for your service and for considering this request.
Since y,
Sco K. James
Chair, Weld County Board of Commissioners
C: The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 801
Denver, CO 80203
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