Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director Tracee Bentley Responds to Senate Bill 181’s Advancement through the State Senate Finance Committee

DENVER, March 7, 2019 – Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director Tracee Bentley provided the following statement following Senate Bill 181’s passage through the Colorado Senate Finance Committee:

“It is absolutely unconscionable for Democratic leadership in the State Senate to continue to advance this jobs-killing bill at breakneck speed without sufficient input from every Coloradan who it would affect. This measure would dramatically and permanently alter Colorado’s energy landscape, putting at immediate risk hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars of critical state revenue, and hundreds of millions in direct funding for public education.

“The fiscal note on the bill fails to account for the significant loss in severance tax and ad valorem tax upon which state and local governments depend. Any halt or interminable delay in future permitting will directly and dramatically alter these calculations. A 2014 Leeds School of business analysis on price and policy impacts on the oil and gas industry found that ‘a 50% reduction in new production… would result in a lower GDP by an average of $4.4 billion and 36,000 fewer jobs in the first five years, and a lower GDP by an average of $6.4 billion and 49,000 fewer jobs between 2015 and 2040.’

“Senate Bill 19-181 directly threatens Colorado’s future economic health and deserves thorough stakeholder input and subsequent deliberation. The level of analysis required for legislation of this magnitude simply cannot be completed in three-minute testimonials that Democratic leadership currently deems sufficient. As a leading advocate for the 233,000 Colorado women and men whose livelihoods depend on the natural gas and oil industry, we will continue to sound the alarm at full volume. Our entire state deserves much better in terms of both process and policy.”

The Colorado Petroleum Council is a division of API, which represents all segments of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 members produce, process and distribute most of the nation’s energy. The industry supports more than ten million U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of millions of Americans. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization. In our first 100 years, API has developed more than 700 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.