Energy Growth in Colorado: ‘This is America at its Best’
Mark Green
Posted June 19, 2014
The beautiful shot below from Weld County, Colo., is part of a photo essay that just went up on the Energy From Shale website, showing some of the scenes and workers involved in oil and natural gas development in that state. Click on the link and scroll down until you find the photo gallery.
The collection illustrates some of the significant energy development going on in Colorado, a state with a long history of oil and natural gas production. The first well in the Denver-Julesburg basin was drilled in 1881.
Weld County is where a good deal of today’s production is going on – and along with it job creation, economic growth and opportunity for people who live there and beyond. As is reflected in the photo above, safe and responsible energy development is occurring in the midst of spacious farming and ranching acreages. It’s also lifting the county economy, generating $265 million in tax revenue to the county in 2013 – making Weld the only debt-free county in Colorado.
Click through the images and see the people and processes that make up advanced hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, the engine of America’s shale energy revolution. Mike Mouton (left) and Joe Casey, both now retired, represent the experience behind efficient, professional fracking.
Energy development is giving back to the community and the state. Kerry McCowen, vice president of Rocky Mountain Operations for Bonanza Creek Energy:
“This unconventional energy boom means so much for the nation. Jobs, taxes, schools, hospitals – this county we’re working in here is debt-free. This is America at its best. This is the dream.”
Learn more at EnergyFromShale.org.
About The Author
Mark Green joined API after a career in newspaper journalism, including 16 years as national editorial writer for The Oklahoman in the paper’s Washington bureau. Previously, Mark was a reporter, copy editor and sports editor at an assortment of newspapers. He earned his journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He and his wife Pamela have two grown children and six grandchildren.