Energy and Strong, Growing Communities

Mary Schaper
Posted September 5, 2014

Oil and Natural Gas Boosts Public Finances in Colorado  

Greeley Tribune: A study by an energy initiative at Duke University shows that Colorado’s booming oil and gas industry has had a positive impact on public finances to date.

“Our research indicates that the net impact of recent oil and gas development has generally been positive for local public finances,” states the report, conducted by Daniel Raimi and Richard Newell of the Duke University Energy Initiative. “While costs arising from new service demands have been large in many regions, increased revenues from a variety of sources have generally outweighed them or at least kept pace, allowing local governments to maintain and in some cases expand or improve the services they provide.”

In Colorado, besides some harsher impacts on the Western Slope, the industry’s impact was a net positive, the study found, meaning that the benefits of the industry outweighed the costs of supplying services to support the industry.

“The study only reinforces what we already knew: local governments in Colorado are getting big boosts from fracking,” said Karen Crummy, director of communications for the nonprofit group, Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy and Energy Independence. 

Read more: http://bit.ly/1AeLuDX

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