Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Lakewood, has a message for Colorado's oil and gas industry: "Don't expect me to come to your party."

Green won't be missing any keg stands at the "Rocky Mountain Energy Epicenter" conference, which starts today in Denver. She will, however, miss panels such as "Charting a New Energy Course for the World," featuring Stanford and MIT scientists.

GreenState of Colo.

The stated goal of the conference is to bring together "key executives from oil & gas companies, investment and commercial bankers, geologists, geophysicists, landmen, producers, pipeline professionals, policy makers and members of the media" to discuss energy development. Green was invited to the event by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association; she declined in a spirited e-mail which was obtained by Face The State.

"I see no point in attending the COGA Conference," she wrote. "Your announcement does not indicate any desire to moderate the ungodly profits the oil and gas companies are reaping at the costs for [sic] consumers."

Meg Collins, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, takes issue with Green's assessment. "We invited all policy makers to learn more about energy from world renowned experts who will discuss the role natural gas plays in today’s clean energy revolution and the industry’s economics," she said.

Organizers say at least eight other state legislators plan to attend the event.

Referring to Green's e-mail, Collins said, "It’s too bad that some policy makers aren’t interested in listening to and learning from this panel of experts as this clearly is an opportunity to learn."

Green said Tuesday she is interested in reintroducing legislation similar to House Bill 1251, vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens in 2006, to address alleged "price gouging" at retail gasoline stations. But that bill would have applied only during times of "emergency," and only covered retail gasoline sales, not production. Similar efforts to enact punitive taxes against oil producers have stalled in Congress.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, statistics through the first quarter of 2008 show that, on average, only 7.4 percent of each dollar paid at the pump is realized as profit by oil companies. Seventy percent of the per-gallon price is attributable to the cost of crude oil, with 13 percent paid in taxes.

Worldwide energy prices have risen sharply in recent years due to record worldwide demand and lagging supply, particularly in the United States where production is limited by regulation and law. Global demand for oil has increased from 77 million barrels a day in 2001 to 85 million barrels a day in 2007. Despite efforts to expand other "renewable" energy sources, nearly 62 percent of American energy demand was met by oil or natural gas in 2006.

As for developing additional natural gas resources, Green said, "I don't think that's a good alternative."