Senator David Balmer is honored to represent the citizens of Senate District 27, which covers part of Arapahoe County.
Prior to...
Prior to...
Denver City Council was out of bounds with resolution on oil shale production
January
2,
2013
By Senator Steve King
Like many Western Slope residents, I was disappointed at the decision by Denver City Council to weigh in on a Western Slope economic development issue in the manner in which it did. As the Denver Post reported, the Resolution centered on fears of the “possibility that future oil-shale development could use up Denver's water supply.”
The unfortunate wording of the Resolution seemed to imply an entitlement on the part of the City of Denver to the water resources of the Western Slope. That implication gives insight to a lack of understanding of the history and complexities of water law in our state. I am reminded of an old cowboy saying, "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over." In that regard Colorado is certainly no exception; but over the years we have worked out agreements, compacts and other forms of water law to ensure that issues are settled as amiably as possible, in accordance with due processes under the rule of law. It is disappointing that the City of Denver's Resolution harbors a sense of entitlement to Western Slope water that presumes to supersede all of these agreements.
Just as disturbing is the insinuation that we would willingly do anything to harm our water supply – and by extension, the suggestion that we are not to be trusted to care for our own resources. I can assure the Denver City Council that the people of the Western Slope have a long and honorable history of caring for our land, water, and other resources, going back generations.
It is also disconcerting that the City would arrive at this Resolution without first adequately familiarizing themselves with the issue. The suggestion in the Resolution that oil shale development poses an egregious risk to the water supply ignores the science and research done in regards to oil shale. The most accurate estimates of potential water usage by a large scale, commercial oil shale program – as provided not by the industry or any other interested party, but by Dr. Jeremy Boak from the Colorado School of Mines, probably the nation’s foremost expert on oil shale – are one to three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. The science is progressing, but even with current technology oil shale production is poised to use less water than other vital uses – such as agriculture, production of bio-mass, and so forth – while producing the critical resource of energy and jobs for Colorado.
There is a far bigger threat to Colorado’s water supply than oil shale development. Council's time and energy would better serve the people of Denver by resolving to research and help prevent a catastrophic wildfire in any of Colorado's water sheds. In 2012 a relatively small fire on the South Platte negatively affected the Cheesman Reservoir, to the tune of $5 million dollars of remediation for the Denver Water District. With roughly four million acres of dead trees in Colorado, it is not "if", but “when” such a catastrophic wildfire will be caused by nature or man; and when it does local, county, and state governments – and every citizen – will be affected. It is difficult to imagine or overstate the resource loss to Colorado and to the lower basin states with whom we have a legal obligation to deliver safe, clean water to.
There are clearly much larger threats to our water resources than oil shale development. The nearly 1 trillion barrels of recoverable oil in western Colorado’s oil shale could free America from any reliance on overseas oil, providing an enormous measure of physical and economic security for the nation. The development of this industry would provide good jobs and positive economic growth to the struggling economy of the Western Slope, issues that are of prime importance to the people I represent; as are the royalties, severance taxes, and other revenues that such an important growth industry would provide.
What the BLM’s decision does is remove the land and incentive necessary for private companies to invest their own capital in research and development – essentially killing the industry and the many benefits it could provide.
Denver is certainly entitled to make all the water Resolutions it deems necessary, but we all would do well to remember the words of Congressman Wayne Aspinall (D); "In the west, when you touch water, you touch everything." It is to everyone’s benefit that this complex issue be fully vetted and that words, alongside actions, are given the respect of being carefully thought out.
Click here to read it in the Daily Sentinel
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Like many Western Slope residents, I was disappointed at the decision by Denver City Council to weigh in on a Western Slope economic development issue in the manner in which it did. As the Denver Post reported, the Resolution centered on fears of the “possibility that future oil-shale development could use up Denver's water supply.”
The unfortunate wording of the Resolution seemed to imply an entitlement on the part of the City of Denver to the water resources of the Western Slope. That implication gives insight to a lack of understanding of the history and complexities of water law in our state. I am reminded of an old cowboy saying, "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over." In that regard Colorado is certainly no exception; but over the years we have worked out agreements, compacts and other forms of water law to ensure that issues are settled as amiably as possible, in accordance with due processes under the rule of law. It is disappointing that the City of Denver's Resolution harbors a sense of entitlement to Western Slope water that presumes to supersede all of these agreements.
Just as disturbing is the insinuation that we would willingly do anything to harm our water supply – and by extension, the suggestion that we are not to be trusted to care for our own resources. I can assure the Denver City Council that the people of the Western Slope have a long and honorable history of caring for our land, water, and other resources, going back generations.
It is also disconcerting that the City would arrive at this Resolution without first adequately familiarizing themselves with the issue. The suggestion in the Resolution that oil shale development poses an egregious risk to the water supply ignores the science and research done in regards to oil shale. The most accurate estimates of potential water usage by a large scale, commercial oil shale program – as provided not by the industry or any other interested party, but by Dr. Jeremy Boak from the Colorado School of Mines, probably the nation’s foremost expert on oil shale – are one to three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. The science is progressing, but even with current technology oil shale production is poised to use less water than other vital uses – such as agriculture, production of bio-mass, and so forth – while producing the critical resource of energy and jobs for Colorado.
There is a far bigger threat to Colorado’s water supply than oil shale development. Council's time and energy would better serve the people of Denver by resolving to research and help prevent a catastrophic wildfire in any of Colorado's water sheds. In 2012 a relatively small fire on the South Platte negatively affected the Cheesman Reservoir, to the tune of $5 million dollars of remediation for the Denver Water District. With roughly four million acres of dead trees in Colorado, it is not "if", but “when” such a catastrophic wildfire will be caused by nature or man; and when it does local, county, and state governments – and every citizen – will be affected. It is difficult to imagine or overstate the resource loss to Colorado and to the lower basin states with whom we have a legal obligation to deliver safe, clean water to.
There are clearly much larger threats to our water resources than oil shale development. The nearly 1 trillion barrels of recoverable oil in western Colorado’s oil shale could free America from any reliance on overseas oil, providing an enormous measure of physical and economic security for the nation. The development of this industry would provide good jobs and positive economic growth to the struggling economy of the Western Slope, issues that are of prime importance to the people I represent; as are the royalties, severance taxes, and other revenues that such an important growth industry would provide.
What the BLM’s decision does is remove the land and incentive necessary for private companies to invest their own capital in research and development – essentially killing the industry and the many benefits it could provide.
Denver is certainly entitled to make all the water Resolutions it deems necessary, but we all would do well to remember the words of Congressman Wayne Aspinall (D); "In the west, when you touch water, you touch everything." It is to everyone’s benefit that this complex issue be fully vetted and that words, alongside actions, are given the respect of being carefully thought out.
Click here to read it in the Daily Sentinel
Share
Tweet
