Colorado, 9 producers agree to protect wildlife

Washington policymakers considering stronger regulations sometimes look to states for ideas. Colorado’s new oil and gas regulations may be providing exactly that.

Nine oil and gas producers have reached historic agreements under those regulations which will protect 355,000 acres of wildlife habitat on Colorado’s Western Slope, Gov. Bill Ritter announced on Aug. 10. “By working together, we are protecting important wildlife habitat while also responsibly developing our energy resources,” he maintained. “This balanced approach will drive our economy forward, allow us to maximize our vast energy resources and ensure sustainable communities for years to come.”

He said that the agreements protect more than 550 square miles of land designated as important habitat for deer, elk, raptors, sage grouse, and cutthroat trout, while providing the producers and their project planners more certainty. By consulting with Colorado’s Division of Wildlife before starting to drill, producers will be able to secure approvals for thousands of natural gas wells more quickly, Ritter explained.

He said that the agreements protect more than 550 square miles of land designated as important habitat for deer, elk, raptors, sage grouse, and cutthroat trout, while providing the producers and their project planners more certainty. By consulting with Colorado’s Division of Wildlife before starting to drill, producers will be able to secure approvals for thousands of natural gas wells more quickly, Ritter explained.

He said that Exxon Mobil Corp. and the state wildlife division signed the largest wildlife protection agreement to date, covering 150,000 acres of mainly federal land in Rio Blanco County. Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., whose North Parachute Ranch plan was the first major agreement to be signed, and Williams Production RMT, which has signed 2 separate agreements for acreage bracketing the Colorado River, also have reached new wildlife accords with the state, he said. Antero Resources Piceance Corp., Marathon Oil Corp., Noble Energy Inc., Black Hills Exploration & Production Co., Delta Petroleum Corp, and Gunnison Energy Corp. have reached similar accords.

The agreements range from comprehensive drilling plans to well site density limits. “These plans are a recipe for success,” said David Neslin, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. “They will allow for development of needed energy supplies while protecting some of our most iconic wildlife species. They epitomize win-win solutions.”

The governor said that the 9 producers were able to use three different tools available to protect wildlife habitat under the state’s amended oil and gas rules which were developed following the legislature’s adoption of House bills 1298 and 1341 in 2007. The state’s wildlife division is continuing to work with other producers on similar wildlife protection plans, he noted.

Matt Simmons embodied integrity

What I remembered first when I learned that Matthew R. Simmons died at his summer home in Maine on Aug. 8 was the anguish in his voice when we spoke by telephone in early 2001 as it became increasingly clear that Enron Corp.’s problems extended to other companies and businesses.

“It’s truly awful,” he said when I mentioned my dismay that the so-called Chinese Wall between investment banks’ research and marketing departments had simply disappeared. “It will take years, if not decades, for our business to regain the trust it has lost. I’m not certain that it ever will.”

Trust mattered a lot to Matt Simmons. Several years before, when his brother, L.E., bought a share of another trade publication I worked for, the two of them tracked me down during the Offshore Technology Conference because I had cited a Simmons & Co. International report in one of my stories. They weren’t satisfied until I assured them I’d used the material because it was good, and not because it came from a company run by the brother of one of the newspaper’s new owners.

I saw Matt frequently in Washington at trade association and government events. Often, he would be on his way out the door to get to the White House or Department of Energy for meetings, yet he always made time to talk. His concerns about the actual extent of Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves still make some people nervous. They deserve to be taken seriously because his track record on other issues is so good.

When he started the Ocean Energy Institute after he retired from the helm of what probably is Houston’s most successful energy investment bank, Matt made OEI a venture capital fund as well as a think-tank to address the challenges of US offshore renewable energy.

“OEI approaches energy R&D and investment from a systems point of view; not just generation, but usage, storage and transmission all together as an interdependent set of opportunities and the next driving force of the international economy,” its web site notes. “OEI is working to coordinate the diverse factors that will help make ocean energy a reality: energy system architecture, offshore wind technology, environmental interests, stakeholder concerns, industrial partners, academic research, financial firepower and political factors.”

“Oceans are the last energy frontier, yet we know so little about how to harness them,” he said. “The Ocean Energy Institute’s mission is to quickly fill this knowledge void and let our oceans supply us the energy that fossil fuels have provided for the last hundred years.” Others share that vision but aren’t working out specific solutions. Matt and other thoughtful men and women began to do something about it. They will continue the work he started. More information about OEI is available online at www.oceanenergy.org.