The governor's latest attack on gas exploration in western Colorado suggests "he just doesn't get" the pivotal role energy plays in the state's economy – and could play in shoring up the state's budget – GOP senators said today.

The senators say the economic windfall to the state posed by tapping extensive gas reserves – and their potential to fund the state's colleges and universities under a proposal by the West Slope's Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita – is being overlooked by an administration that seems bent on stopping new energy development at any cost.

"Ever since taking office in January, Bill Ritter not only has shown his contempt for the energy industry but also his indifference to our state's economic well-being," said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, whose vast eastern plains district is the site of extensive energy exploration. "This governor just doesn't get the huge role energy plays in Colorado's economy and the ways in which it could help us provide critical public services. "

Added Brophy, "These guys are really showing their stripes. They're absolutely hostile to the existing energy economy." 

According to a recent report by the Colorado School of Mines, the oil-and-gas industry is now the state's largest, making up fully 6 percent of Colorado's economy. 

Earlier this year, Gov. Bill Ritter announced his opposition to the development of an estimated 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas on the West Slope's Roan Plateau despite years of planning by local, state and federal governments to drill in an environmentally sensitive way.

Last month, the Ritter administration appointed what Brophy called "die-hard, environmental extremists" to the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Brophy said at the time that some of the new members seem opposed to all drilling, which was like appointing an avowed pacifist to be U.S. secretary of defense.

The administration also came out against energy exploration in northwestern Colorado's gas-rich Vermillion Basin, drawing a rebuke from Moffat County Commissioners who said a plan to develop energy there was years in the making before Ritter intervened.  The natural resources there could provide much needed revenue to the cash-strapped county.

In a letter to Moffat County commissioners this week, Ritter dismissed their estimates of how much natural gas lies under the Vermillion and how much revenue it might generate for that county as well as for the whole state.

"I disagree with your claim that the Vermillion Basin itself contains natural gas valued at $5.85 billion dollars," Ritter says in his letter to the county.

However, Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, said it is Ritter's numbers that are suspect.
"You have to wonder what the governor is using for his own estimates. Is it a Ouija board, a crystal ball or a divining rod?" McElhany said. "Whatever it is, he ought to share it with the oil-and-gas industry. He could save them millions in exploration costs."

A recent proposal by Penry and Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, would draw on hundreds of millions of dollars in lease proceeds, mineral royalties and energy taxes from the Roan Plateau to benefit colleges and universities. Newspapers including the Denver Post , the Rocky Mountain News , the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and the Durango Herald have backed the idea.

McElhany noted that energy demands continue to rise nationwide amid limited supply.

"It looks like the governor wants to limit supply even more," he said.