Sweeping changes to the mission and makeup of the panel that oversees oil and gas development could smother what has become the state's largest industry, according to a state senator whose district is benefiting from the energy boom.

Sen. Greg Brophy, a Republican from Wray who represents much of Colorado's eastern plains, says energy exploration in many rural communities has become a key creator of high-paying jobs and economic development. Brophy says that is now in peril. Legislation passed this year by majority Democrats raises new hurdles to obtaining drilling permits, and Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter's appointments last week to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission include hardline foes of energy development.

"Some of the governor's picks appear to be opposed to drilling in general, and it just makes no sense for them to be on the commission," Brophy said. "It's like appointing an avowed pacifist to be the nation's secretary of defense." 

A new report released by the Colorado School of Mines and commissioned by the General Assembly found that oil and gas exploration generated nearly $23 billion in 2005, accounting for some 70,000 jobs and amounting to nearly 6 percent of the state's economy overall. Experts say that makes it the state's largest industry, outpacing even tourism in driving Colorado's economy.

"That's a lot of prosperity to go around for the whole state," Brophy said. "The study says the average job in the energy-exploration field pays $61,000 a year. Do you realize what a salary like that does in a rural community in Eastern Colorado?  The unemployment rate in Yuma County is something like 2.3 percent right now.  For the first time in a generation and a half, kids aren't leaving here for greener pastures."

Brophy said the "seismic shift" in the direction of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission could undermine all of that success. Because so much is at stake, Brophy said, the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committe's confirmation hearings for some of Ritter's new appointees will be contentious. Brophy, who is a committee member, said he will be asking some hard questions.

House Bill 1341, signed into law earlier this year, expanded the oil-and-gas commission's size and reduced the number of commission appointees who have experience in the industry. The bill also established more criteria that the commission can use to delay drilling permits.

Among the governor's new appointees that worry Brophy are Tresi B. Houpt, a Garfield County commissioner from Glenwood Springs, who is a noted foe of energy exploration, and Richard Alward of Grand Junction, an environmentalist.

"What is the point of having an oil-and-gas commission if it it winds up shutting down oil-and-gas exploration?" Brophy said. 

Brophy told the Rocky Mountain News last week that, "It looks to me like we're going away from folks who have an inherent knowledge of the industry and moving toward people who have overt political agendas."