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Liability bill should be rejected by the Colorado State Legislature


Reid Porter | porterr@api.org | 202.682.8114


DENVER, March 10, 2016 – Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director Tracee Bentley made the following remarks in response to the Colorado State Legislature’s House Committee decision to pass a proposal ultimately aimed at restricting energy development.

“This anti-consumer proposal is not based on science and should be rejected before it does damage to Colorado’s recovering economy. Extreme proposals like this are part of a political agenda to restrict energy development in Colorado, and could raise energy costs and destroy high-paying Colorado jobs.

"Hydraulic fracturing is an engineering technology that has helped make the U.S. the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas and has helped us reduce carbon emissions to near 20-year lows.

“Colorado already has some of the most rigorous oil and natural gas development rules in the country. We should be working to find ways to help the industry thrive, not hinder progress. The last thing Colorado needs is unsubstantiated and costly regulations that could increase the cost of energy for consumers and undermine our competitiveness as an energy leader. This bill is a solution in search of a problem.”

Through partnerships with research institutions like Southern Methodist University, Stanford University, and the University of Oklahoma, the oil and natural gas industry has proactively shared data with scientists and state geologists to advance the understanding of induced seismicity. The industry is also actively engaged with the States First Initiative, a multistate partnership involving the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and the Groundwater Protection Council to better understand these issues (released in September 2015). This collaboration is helping researchers arrive at science-based conclusions to inform commonsense solutions.

The Colorado Petroleum Council is a division of API, which represents all segments of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 650 members produce, process, and distribute most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy.
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