Energy boom pins Colorado between rock, hard place

State geologist says global mineral rush bound to hit state

By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 21, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated April 21, 2008 at 12:48 p.m.

Text size  

• 4 Comments
• Email
• Print

Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Vince Matthews, state geologist and director of the Colorado Geological Survey, said he hopes to inspire Coloradans to plan for what he sees as inevitable demands for the state's minerals.

Vince Matthews is Colorado's own PowerPoint tourist. He travels the state, graphs and charts in hand, warning about the developing forces eyeing every last drop of oil, molecule of natural gas and pound of metal in the Colorado landscape.

In an approach reminiscent of Al Gore's lecture tour on global warming, Matthews is warning about the international rush for minerals and the pressure it's bound to put on the resource-rich state.

Matthews delivers his alarming message like a college professor, which he once was. He's taught at several universities, spent more than two decades exploring for oil in the United States for a number of companies and since 2004 has been Colorado's state geologist, leading the government agency that encourages responsible economic development of mineral and energy resources.

Though he doesn't relish the Gore comparison, Matthews has given more than 100 PowerPoint presentations the past four years to illustrate the huge appetite for metals and energy-bearing minerals by China and other fast-developing regions.

As prices rise - even obscure commodities from antimony to vanadium are skyrocketing in cost - he envisions a squeeze on Colorado to open up its vast mineral stores to more mining.

Even if projects on state and private lands meet resistance, there's less the state can do to prevent opening vast swaths of federal land within Colorado.

"When you get right down to it, Congress can take away the wilderness areas. They gave them, they can take them away," he said. "That's really extreme, but the potential is there."

Matthews isn't coming at the issue from an environmental perspective only. He has national interests in mind as well.

"My main concern is, are we (the United States) going to be able to get these things?" Matthews said, marveling at what he describes as China's methodical efforts to lock up resources across the planet.

"We are not producing a lot of these things domestically, and China is tying these things up as fast as they can."

Last week, Matthews gave two talks to state lawmakers over a lunch break at the Capitol. But he'll deliver his message to just about anyone, anywhere. He's presented to audiences of 15 to 500; to middle school teachers, Rotary clubs, lawyers, cattlemen, utilities and real estate experts. He's done it in Craig, Kremmling, Grand Junction, Walden, Delta and throughout the metro area.

As word of the lecture's sobering impact spreads, Matthews has been in greater demand. Last year, his talk was featured at the World Petroleum Conference in Houston. He's been getting more out-of-state invitations, too, but doesn't take many.

"It would be nice to give it all over the country, but I've got a division to run here," Matthews said of his job leading the Colorado Geological Survey.

The most significant of Matthews' 107 slides, he said, are those showing the increase in worldwide electricity demand, which most plainly illustrates a key factor behind the fast-rising quest for oil, gas, coal and other resources.

"It shows that explosive growth in 21st century China; it shows the three countries (China, the United States and India) are the drivers, and it shows the rest of the world is also getting after it," he said.

He hopes the talk inspires Colorado citizens and policymakers to plan for what he sees as inevitable demands on the state's mineral wealth. He sees positive steps in efforts to use less energy, use it more efficiently and develop renewable resources that have begun to take at least a little pressure off the underground fuels.

But he warns Coloradans to be ready for the resource rush to come.

"We're rich. Kansas doesn't have this stuff," Matthews said.

He sees no scenario in which the planet ever again sees big price drops for metals or energy-bearing minerals, barring some kind of global depression.

"I think the (pricing) pain is going to grow, and as the pain grows, the people back East will start demanding things happen," Matthews warns. "They'll say to Congress 'You have to fix the mineral crisis. This is what we need. We don't care about Colorado.' "

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048

A growing world needs more minerals

In his talks, state geologist Vince Matthews presents hundreds of surprising facts about the soaring demand for metals and energy-bearing minerals around the world, and its potential effects on Colorado, a state rich in needed resources. A sample:

* China's demand for steel can be illustrated in the pace of construction: Shanghai went from one skyscraper in 1985 to 300 today.

* China is a top-three producer of 15 of the world's 17 most important minerals and yet is increasing imports of the same minerals to keep up with its needs.

* In 2005, China opened 70,000 new supermarkets; in 2006, it was the world's third-largest automaker.

* The U.S. consumes 60 million pounds of uranium per year, yet it produces just 2 million.

* The price of molybdenum, a hardening agent found in large quantities in Colorado, climbed from $2 per pound in 2002 to $40 a pound in 2005. In March, it was just below $30 a pound.

* The United States generates as much nuclear energy as France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom combined.

* Boulder was once home to one of the country's most productive oil fields, discovered in 1902, prior to discoveries in Texas in 1910. The area had its own refinery and more than 100 companies working in the area.

• April 21, 2008

  7:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ghoax writes:

  Great news for Colorado, jobs again perhaps? Meanwhile we need to go nuclear. Explore for more of OUR oll and natural gas. Drop the bogus AGW claim and get on with life. Cheap Energy and a Strong Dollar is what we need.

• April 21, 2008

  8:50 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  bookwerm writes:

  You are fools if you think we can produce enough more gas and oil to actually affect the price! The demand is so so huge, that we would be a drop in an ocean, if we were full bore on every resource we have. Don't believe me? Run the numbers of how much is used per day, versus what is coming out of Colorada and the US per day.. we are talking doubling our output before there would be any impact. We need to go fully renewable, keep the money IN America, not send it overseas. It is ONLY with renewable energy that we can ramp up production of tech. etc. to get cost savings.. drilling in the ground to find something that is going to run out is a long term losing proposition.. and it WILL run out. I don't care about Global warming/climate change.. this is economics! Paying twice as much for DOMESTIC energy is better than sending dollars overseas for foreign.. we all get richer, the economy does well, and the capital stays in the US! AND it gives us tech. that we can NOW EXPORT, open up our factories again, and get us back in the game.. and OUT of this dead end "service economy".

  Secondly, most all this mining etc. leaves Colorado, doesn't leave much money behind, esp with our pathetic severance taxes.. so here we have this LOSS of many areas to tourism with a REAL decrease in Colorado economy dollars, traded against a short term and thin income from Oil/Gas.. this is NOT to our long term benefit.. we can do tourism indefinitely.. but to hose tourism (*possibly permanently as they might not come back to strip mine Co!) for the sake of temporary gains is just foolish.. do a REAL cost/benefit analysis and run it out over 25 yrs, you will see the numbers are NON intuitive.

  We need to mine a few asteroids, they will have all the metals we will need :-)

• April 21, 2008

  9:13 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  kirbysfriend22 writes:

  Colorado is in a great position with these minerals. But the worry of folks back east causing Congress to force us into fast-tracking these resources and forcing us into perhaps even losing our forest land sounds a bit chicken little. The West is growing and that's where the political power is ever increasing. We no more have to worry about folks back east forcing us into giving up our minerals than the folks back east have to worry about giving up their water resources for us. We have the mineral resources but they have the H2O.

• April 21, 2008

  9:36 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  windbourne writes:

  Matthews is SPOT ON. One of the major issues that many ppl seem not to pay attention to, is that china is actively tying up the resources. They will go into places like Africa and pay the local gov, dictator, or warlord to NOT sell to the west. We need to start being cautious.
  In addition, we it would be in our favor to increase our separation tax and use it to build infrastructure, in particular to encourage new businesses here.

Featured

• Mount Crushmore

  

  Which four Broncos greats should be immortalized on Mount Crushmore? Vote here.

• Winter Escapes

  

  Your insider’s guide to the copious joys of the coolest season.

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.

• Broncos Video

  

  More Broncos videos. Get the latest from Dove Valley

• Weekend plans?

  

  Figure out things to do this weekend with the help of our entertainment calendar.

• Season To Share

  

  The Post-News Season To Share campaign provides grants to area nonprofits.

• The Rocky @ 150 Years

  

  The Rocky was there when Colorado became a state in 1876. Read our coverage.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  And the winner is... Robert Ziegler! See the whole fiction series by clicking here.

• Rocky Mountain Music

  

  Mark Brown blogs on the new Guns N' Roses album