Yesterday, Governor Hickenlooper's esteemed task force on oil and gas development announced their recommendations. After months of discussions, deliberations, controversy and compromise, the task force was able to get the required votes for a grand total of 9 recommendations. Unfortunately, the results of their efforts as reflected in the recommendations are underwhelming, to say the least, or, as the co-chair of the task force said, "a big disappointment."
To be fair, no one should have expected groundbreaking resolution to some of the biggest issues relating to oil and gas development in the state. At the same, though, several task force members noted that the two biggest issues – the location of drilling facilities and local authority over oil and gas operations – were completely unaddressed by the recommendations.
So while the Governor's task force was able to walk the state back from the proverbial cliff represented by various ballot initiatives last fall, the reprieve appears to have been temporary at best. It is no coincidence that on the same day the task force recommendations were announced, an anti-fracking group denounced the task force as a "failure" and announced plans to push for a statewide ban on fracking.
Tisha Schuller, the president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association was quoted as saying she hoped that there still could be a "meaningful compromise." As do we all. But the fact that the task force apparently could not reach a compromise in order to make even a single recommendation on one of the two acknowledged key issues cannot give much hope – maybe not any hope.
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