Hickenlooper

With the outset of a new presidential administration and Congress in Washington, DC, states are likely to be deferred to more, and Colorado intends to take the ball and run with it, especially when it comes to natural gas and clean energy, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday.

The Denver metropolitan area is expected to meet the 2008 federal ozone standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb), officials at the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) said recently, but it may turn out to be too little too late, since the Obama administration has already raised the standard.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) on Thursday criticized efforts by environmental groups to derail oil and natural gas development in the state and predicted two potential amendments to the constitution won’t make the November ballot.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has appointed three people to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), which oversees energy resources. Appointed were Ashley Lowe Ager of Durango, a soil conservation/reclamation professional; Kent Jolley of Glenwood Springs, a royalty owner and rancher; and Winston Perry Pearce of Denver, a petroleum/geology engineer with industry experience.

Energy policymaking is, and will remain, a continuing balancing act, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday in kicking off the Colorado Energy Forum 2016 in Denver.

Reflecting a more sanguine view of his state’s oil/natural gas sector than in recent years, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper stressed renewables, sustainability and the environment in the brief energy portion of his state-of-the-state address in Denver Thursday.

In advance of a much-anticipated federal Interior Department announcement due Tuesday, governors in Oregon and Colorado last week issued executive orders to upgrade conservation efforts for the greater sage grouse.

Defeat of an anti-drilling measure in Santa Barbara County, CA, and the re-election of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday provided new encouragement to industry-backed supporters of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and continued development of the nation’s unconventional energy resources.

Leaders in Washington, DC, and state governors across the country should take note of how western states are meshing environmental goals with growing oil and gas development, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said last Wednesday. If they did, some of the big issues at hand might be solved more successfully, he told an audience in Denver at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s Rocky Mountain Energy Summit.