A natural gas rig at the entrance to Battlement Mesa in Garfield County on Colorado's Western Slope (David O. Williams photo).

But some local government officials, water regulators and environmental groups are equally concerned about the timing of mandatory disclosures of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” – pointing out the new rules don’t compel public disclosure on the FracFocus website until up to two months after a frack job is completed.

“The COGCC is asking for local government input on drilling proposals, but not letting them know what is being proposed,” said Trési Houpt, a local government representative on the COGCC board until she was defeated as a Garfield County commissioner last year. “If toxic chemicals are proposed for use in water supply areas, or near homes, local government health departments must have that information.”

Fracking injects millions of gallons of water and sand, laced with chemicals, deep into oil and gas wells under very high pressure to fracture tight geological formations and free up more oil and natural gas. As drilling is once again taking off in Colorado, especially in more populous areas on the state’s Front Range, there is mounting pressure to find out exactly what chemicals are being used.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a former petroleum geologist who says “hydraulic fracturing doesn’t connect to groundwater, that it’s almost inconceivable that groundwater will be contaminated,” still is pushing for the current rulemaking to improve industry transparency and public trust.

Houpt previously advocated for a federal law requiring full public disclosure that has been repeatedly introduced by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, but COGCC director David Neslin has consistently opposed such requirements. He argues disclosure won’t stop spills but instead will divert staff from prevention and enforcement.

Local governments can currently comment on drilling permits they think could pose a public health risk, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) must review drilling applications proposed near drinking water supplies. But under the proposed disclosure rule, fracking or the chemicals that will be used won’t be part of that notification process.

“Water and waste water management entities need to be aware of the chemicals being used,” said Jim Miller, a water treatment engineer and member of the Colorado Water Utility Council. “Pre-disclosure would benefit water utilities and the environment.”

The COGCC staff, however, opposes pre-disclosure because “hydraulic fracturing fluids are often modified shortly before or at the time of treatment” and because it “would require either a substantial increase in staff size or a substantial reduction in other staff work.”

According to the COGCC website, “The latter could potentially diminish environmental protection because much of the staff’s existing work involves ensuring well bore integrity, seeing that wastes are property handled, evaluating potential environmental effects from new development, compiling environmental data, and overseeing remediation projects.”

As for the so-called trade-secret loophole, the state argues “all other states that require hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure and virtually all federal environmental laws protect trade secrets.”

Further, the state officials say trade-secret exemptions don’t occur often: “A recent COGCC survey of 300 random Colorado disclosure forms on the [currently voluntary] FracFocus website indicates that trade secret claims are rare. Only 5.8% of the chemicals listed were subject to a trade secret claim, and 63% of the disclosure forms contained no trade secret claims.”

Bur environmentalists argue such a loophole will undermine Hickenlooper’s public-trust goal.

“If we don’t close the trace secret loophole, this rule is meaningless,” said Clean Water Action’s Gary Wockner. “Gov. Hickenlooper needs to see this promise through and make sure COGCC closes the loophole.”

And Wockner also wants a clearer picture of where the water used in fracking is coming from and how much is needed for each frack job.

“Nobody seems to know how much water drilling and fracking uses,” Wockner said. “Let’s go right to the source and have the drillers and frackers report their water use so that Colorado knows how much additional stress this will place on our rivers and farms, which are already being drained and dried up.”

Western Slope oil and gas watchdog groups this week questioned whether the new board members appointed to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) last week by Gov. John Hickenlooper will lean too heavily toward industry and Front Range concerns.

“The new commission lacks a member who is intimately aware of Western Slope community impacts,” said Frank Smith of Western Colorado Congress. “We’re cautiously optimistic but concerned about the ability of the new COGCC to protect public health and Colorado air and water.”

Republican Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton is a new appointee who replaces former Democratic Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt as the local government official on the board.

Other new commission members include Republican John Benton, a vice president and general manager for Rex Energy in Denver; Democrat W. Perry Pearce, manager of state government affairs for ConocoPhillips/Burlington Resources; and Democrat Andrew Lawrence Spielman, a natural resource attorney at Hogan Lovells in Denver.

Thomas Compton of Hesperus and Richard D. Alward of Grand Junction were both reappointed to the board that’s also comprised of Mike King, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, Dr. Chris Urbina, executive director of the Department of Public Health and Environment, and Republican petroleum engineer Dolly Ann “DeAnn” Craig.

“The new COGCC will have tough decisions to make, and some of these will highlight their allegiances and values,” Smith added. “COGCC will make big decisions related to drilling in and near communities and updating fracking [hydraulic fracturing] regulations. The poor economy led the previous COGCC to expedite drilling and, some may say, place less of an emphasis on understanding natural gas’s impacts to public health.”

But Hickenlooper, a Democrat and former petroleum geologist, said in a release late last week that he feels the new commission has a diverse makeup.

“Different voices and a united spirit of collaboration are key to the success of the commission,” he said. “We are confident this group will help serve the industry, land owners and the environment well as it navigates through issues that are important to both the state’s economy and protection of Colorado’s beautiful landscapes.”

On Tuesday Hickenlooper announced that he wants the COGCC to adopt a new hydraulic fracturing rule by the end of the year, compelling industry to publicly disclose the chemicals used in the controversial process, which injects water, sand and undisclosed chemicals into natural gas wells to fracture geological formations and free up more gas.

But Leslie Robinson of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance said that, fracking issues aside, the previous COGCC never dealt with setbacks, a critical topic given the increasing number of gas wells being drilled near residential development.

“One detail left unfinished by the previous commission is the rule about setbacks from a drill pad from homes, schools and businesses,” Robinson said. “Currently, there is only a 150-foot limit from a residence — in case the 100-foot rig falls — and 350-feet minimal limit in residential areas where a drill pad and following fracking operation can be placed.”

That simply won’t cut it, argues Robinson, who has been working hard with residents of the Battlement Mesa retirement community, which is facing up to 200 new wells proposed by Denver-based Antero Resources.

“With this new commission’s make-up, it’s a wasted effort hoping that a new [setback] rule to protect citizens might be considered,” Robinson said. “In fact, these next years, environmental and citizen groups like the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance will probably have to devote our resources to protect the current rules from being dismantled.”

The new appointments are for four years and replace commission members whose terms expired July 1. Hickenlooper’s appointments still must be approved by the Colorado Senate.

Hickenlooper immediately found himself on the defensive for other reasons when the new appointments were announced on Friday. A Grand Junction television station aired a report questioning a campaign contribution of $1,100 to Hickenlooper made by Pearce in June. The donation raised “pay to play” questions.

“I’ve donated to Hickenlooper before, even other candidates in the past,” Pearce told KJCT-TV. “There are probably hundreds of thousands of people in the state of Colorado who contributed to the governor who didn’t get this kind of appointment.”

Hickenlooper denied any knowledge of the contribution and said he would still support Pearce: “If we paid attention to that, I would’ve taken him off of the list just to remove even the appearance of impropriety. You guys have to put up with people saying ‘Oh, he paid to play.’ All I can assure you is that nothing could be further from the truth.”

Houpt

“No agency, including the [Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission], can guarantee the Garfield County residents that exposures to oil and gas emissions will not produce illness or latent effects, including death,” county officials wrote.

COGCC director David Neslin declined to comment to the Sentinel about the open application, which is set to be heard next month. The county cites several concrete examples of residents whose health has been impacted by natural gas drilling, but the industry continues to attack the state’s drilling regulations as too restrictive and overly protective of the environment.

Meanwhile, one of the former COGCC board members who helped draft the controversial new rules that went into effect in 2009 says the state could do more to ensure the health of its citizens living in natural gas drilling hotspots. Trési Houpt, also a former Democratic Garfield County commissioner, said there needs to be a ban on the use of undisclosed chemicals in the controversial drilling process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“I have been wanting to say that it’s disturbing to me to continually hear the industry say there is no connection that’s been shown between fracking and health problems,” Houpt told the Glenwood Spring Post Independent, referring to revelations of families experiencing health problems in the wake of fracking operations, which inject water, sand and undisclosed chemicals deep underground to force open tight sandstone and free up more gas.

“The reason we don’t see a connection is because we don’t know what chemicals are being used,” Houpt said. “We don’t know what to test for. There are some types of illnesses that are occurring that hadn’t occurred in those areas before, or that are unique to some of the chemicals that we’re assuming are being used. But it doesn’t tell me anything about the safety of a process to say that, because there’s no connection or study that’s proven a direct connection, that there’s no harm, or potential harm.”

The natural gas industry maintains the chemical formulas are proprietary, available to emergency responders and totally safe. The U.S. Interior Department is considering a disclosure requirement for all fracking on public lands. The process was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act during the Bush administration in 2005.

Houpt hinted that she will remain in the game on the energy front, an area of concern that came to dominate her time as a county commissioner, but she did not get into specifics.

“I was sickened by Silt Mayor Dave Moore’s sycophantic ‘We love Antero. They are such wonderful neighbors’ speech,” Silt Mesa resident Dave Pegg wrote to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, referring to comments made by the mayor at a special Garfield County commissioner’s meeting Tuesday. Moore at that meeting lauded Antero money coming into the town for “social and civic activities.”

At that county meeting Tuesday, according to the Post Independent, two of the three commissioners voted to formally intervene on behalf of Silt Mesa and Peach Valley residents who object to an Antero request to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner (COGCC) to dramatically increasing drilling density in the two neighborhoods.

Antero, which also has been embroiled in controversy over its plans to drill up to 200 new wells in the Battlement Mesa community, wants to increase well density in a 640-acre area near Silt from one well per 160 acres to one well per 10 acres, according to the paper. Silt is about 15 miles west of Glenwood Springs on Interstate 70.

Republican county commissioner John Martin, an ardent backer of the oil and gas industry, was the lone dissenting vote on the three-member board of commissioners, which will ask the state regulatory COGCC to consider citizen concerns about air and water quality and increased truck traffic before granting Antero’s request.

Commissioner Mike Samson, a Republican and former educator in Rifle, joined Democrat Trési Houpt in voting to officially intervene with the state on behalf of Garfield County citizens. “I have a lot of concerns about the health, safety and welfare of the people,” Samson said, adding COGCC rules are flawed because they don’t allow “ordinary citizens” to have formal standing, leaving it up to county government.

Houpt, who was decisively voted out of office last week in favor of Republican Tom Jankovsky (also a big backer of the gas industry), serves as a local community representative on the COGCC board. That’s a state position she’ll now have to give up after leaving local office.

Admitting there are “shortfalls” in the state rules regulating natural gas drilling, she has said local residents will have to be even more vigilant in monitoring the industry with the changes to the makeup of the county board. She also previously has said she developed a good working relationship with Samson, who seems more willing to take local public health concerns about drilling into consideration than his GOP counterpart Martin.

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Tom Jankovsky

Democratic gubernatorial front-runner John Hickenlooper, a former geologist laid off in the 1980s and now a successful restaurateur and the mayor of Denver, has said he would tweak some of the regs but that he does not favor gutting the more environmentally friendly rules.

So Jankovsky has staked out fairly safe political ground among his GOP constituency as he tries to become the third Republican member of the three-member board of commissioners in the most drilled county in the state.

Then late last month he ran a full-page ad in the Glenwood Post Independent that made members of the conservation community and Democrats – including his opponent, incumbent Trési Houpt — do a double take.

“Our country is best served by producing our own energy, and, fortunately for us in this part of the state, we are blessed with world-class reserves of natural gas,” the ad read. “Best of all, the regulations by the federal government are strengthened further here in Colorado by what the Wall Street Journal describes as the toughest regulatory safeguards in America.”

That’s a reference to those painstakingly negotiated oil and gas regulations, amended by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) – the state regulatory board – and implemented in the spring of 2009. The new rules brought greater protections for public health, safety and wildlife habitat.

Jankovsky last week told the Colorado Independent the ad is consistent with his campaign statements.

“It’s not a flip-flop,” he said. “I’m saying that I will not over-regulate, that we have regulations at the state level and at the federal level and I will not duplicate those – that at the county level we need to regulate on land use and the county code. That’s what I’m saying in that ad. I won’t pile on. If those regs are already there, there’s no reason to have them at the county level.”

Democratic Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt. (Photo/Leslie Robinson)

“It’s a very complex industry; it’s a high-impact industry,” said Houpt, “and there are some aspects of energy development that will be regulated at the federal level, some – and mostly on the technical end of it – will be regulated at the state level, and the land-use concerns will be regulated at the local level.

“So there certainly is a role for all levels of government to be engaged in the oversight of this industry, and at the end of the day we all represent the same people. We want to see the industry be successful but we also want to see very well-defined protections in place to protect public health, welfare, safety, the environment and wildlife.”

Jankovsky has been critical of Houpt’s position on the COGCC board, saying she has a conflict of interest. Houpt counters that she is able to advocate for the county at the state level and brings a local perspective to the Denver-based regulatory agency.

Jankovsky also sticks by his contention that the amended state rules have choked off the industry and its high-paying jobs on the Western Slope, pointing to a Fraser Institute report showing Colorado lags in the nation because of its regulatory climate.

“Those regulations did create the loss of jobs in 2008, so that is correct. Between 2007 and 2009, Colorado went from No. 1 in oil and gas exploration to dead last,” Jankovsky said. “Nationally we went from No. 1 to 28th.”

However, jobs lost in 2008 can’t be pinned on the new regulations, which didn’t take effect until the spring of 2009, and the pro-industry Fraser Institute, based in Canada, reported in July that regulatory certainty was improving in Colorado.

“Colorado is improving its reputation among industry executives, but the state still has a long way to go. In 2007, the state was ranked No. 1 in the world, but environmental regulations introduced since then continue to discourage investors,” Fraser Institute senior economist Gerry Angevine said in a release, noting the state had “vaulted” to 61st in the world among investors in this year’s survey from 81st last year.

Houpt points out that Colorado is leading the Rocky Mountain region in permitting for new wells and that companies have been doing infrastructure work and getting ready for the inevitable rebound of natural gas prices.

“With the positioning that is occurring in Colorado, not only with the permitting of applications but with work that’s been done on ancillary infrastructure during this slow period, it’s an indication that [companies] want to learn how to work within the structure of the amended rules and be ready to move forward when it’s time – when the market permits,” Houpt said.

A spokesman for the nonprofit Colorado Conservation Voters (CCV), which produced a mailer critical of Jankovsky’s pro-industry platform, discounted the Fraser Institute analysis.

“That’s an industry report, and it’s far more relevant to look at well permits and drilling activity than it is to look at an industry report,” said CCV Executive Director Pete Maysmith. “The real-life data on the ground, which compared to neighboring states we’re doing better. That’s a more relevant way to think about it.”

Jankovsky said it’s been a largely positive campaign so far, but he took exception to the CCV mailer.

“I didn’t appreciate the way things were taken out of context – that I’m here to exploit the mineral rights and basically that I’m against the environment, which isn’t true,” he said. “We just took it as part of politics and we’re moving on and we didn’t make the stink that the Democrats made two years ago.”

In that race, two Democrats were narrowly defeated after a barrage of outside oil and gas money paid for a slew of negative mailers and fake newspapers. Environmentalists got involved, going after the ultimately victorious Republicans as well.

Houpt late last week said she has not thus far seen any of the same shenanigans that led to formal complaints filed with the Secretary of State’s Office and fines against industry-backed groups in 2008. She said her campaign has worked hard to keep this race positive.

“I just hope when people receive those mailers [aimed at Jankovsky], they’ll know that the ones that say ‘Paid for by the Committee to Re-elect Trési Houpt’ are endorsed by me, and that the ones that don’t are ones that I haven’t reviewed,” she said.

Tom Jankovsky

“You drive up out of the valley in Sterling and there’s a thousand windmills up in the high plains, and you don’t think those have an impact on wildlife and a visual impact?” Jankovsky told the Colorado Independent in an interview earlier this summer. “Those windmills are there for a hundred years, while a gas rig may be here for a year, then they pull out and it’s relatively unobtrusive.”

Jankovsky says he isn’t speaking for Sunlight ski area in his bid to land on the board of commissioners, but he does feel the oil and gas workers – especially middle managers — who ski at his small family resort northwest of Aspen are concerned about the environmental impacts of natural gas drilling and trying harder to mitigate those impacts than they were even 10 years ago.

“As far as our guests, those oil and gas jobs are good-paying positions,” Jankovsky said. “That’s why they’re important for Garfield County as well, and that’s why we have those guests at our resort.”

Democratic Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt. (Photo/Leslie Robinson)

And she’s also aware she wears a double target on her back as the lone Democrat on the three-member board of commissioners and an appointee by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter to the state agency – the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) – that oversees natural gas drilling in the state.

Houpt fully expects oil and gas money to play in the race in favor of Jankovsky and to her detriment. Jankovsky says he hopes outside influences stay out of what’s basically a local election, but adds he wouldn’t be surprised to see environmental groups back Houpt. He says Houpt has a conflict when it comes to also serving on the COGCC.

“Because of Tresi’s position on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission she recuses herself we counted 25 percent of the time,” Jankovsky said. “Although you may think she’s there supporting you on a local level on oil and gas issues, she can’t because she has to recuse herself.”

Houpt scoffs at that notion.

“There’s been a great benefit to having a local government official serve on the oil and gas commission, because so much of what is determined at the state level impacts land use, and they’ve never had that discussion from the perspective of what the local impacts are,” Houpt said. “I’m able to not only serve Garfield County in a more comprehensive manner, but I can better educate the state on how best to work with counties.”

Houpt says she’s able to determine where her vote will have the most impact and vote that position. For example, she’s decided to take the county position in reviewing all applications related to Antero Resources’ drilling plan in the Battlement Mesa community, where she voted as a county commissioner to at least explore using county 1041 powers to perhaps give the county more regulatory authority.

Jankovsky flatly opposes even considering using 1041 powers – a position in line with the current Republican county commissioners.

Houpt says the COGCC’s amended oil and gas drilling regulations that went into effect in the spring of 2009 have provided better protections for public health and the environment without unduly restricting the ability of the industry to do business in the state. She says her presence on the state board brought a stronger local government voice to that process.

“There is always room for growth in communication, but we’ve made great progress with the new rules and new systems that are in place, and I honestly believe there’s a greater understanding from the state level on what needs to be contemplated when you’re looking at energy development and what the challenges at the local levels are and why it’s important to be partners with counties,” Houpt said.

Trési Houpt

The race was significant in the most productive natural gas-drilling county in the state because if one Democrat had joined fellow Dem Trési Houpt on the board, a number of key policy decisions favoring environmental and public health protections might have gone against the industry.

“Garfield was really ground zero in ’08,” said David Flaherty, CEO of Magellan Strategies, a Republican polling firm that conducted phone surveys in Garfield County leading up to the 2008 election. “If a Democrat had been elected, there definitely probably would have been some different policies passed or considered by the board of commissioners there.”

Tom Jankovsky

Had either Democrat Stephen Bershenyi or Steven Carter been elected in 2008, Houpt said things clearly would have been different the last two years, although she quickly added she’s forged a good working relationship with Samson, who has shown a real willingness to listen to public concerns about the impacts of gas drilling.

“There certainly are differences in priorities with the parties, and both John and Mike have been very up front about this,” Houpt said of the failure of Democrats to claim at least one seat in 2008. “Maybe there would have been support for the FRAC Act or the moratorium in the Divide Creek area – just a more cautious approach to energy development.”

The FRAC (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals) Act, sponsored by Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette, D-Denver, seeks to remove a Safe Drinking Water Act exemption granted the drilling process of hydraulic fracturing during the Bush administration.

There are serious concerns about the potential for groundwater contamination during the “fracking” process, but the Garfield County commissioners by a 2-1 margin voted not to support the legislation. Houpt backs the bill.

The West Divide Creek drilling moratorium was requested by Silt resident Lisa Bracken, who says cancer-causing chemicals and methane continue to seep into the creek near her property. She wants the commissioners to push the state to re-impose a previous drilling moratorium until the situation can be resolved.

Bracken, too, says Samson is a Republican who seems sincere about demanding responsible drilling practices and more state oversight. Still, the board declined to take up Bracken’s moratorium case with the state.

“[Samson], like myself, expects oversight from the state that was promised from the state,” Bracken said. “Martin is different story entirely. He does not seem to get what’s going on. He just seems to be adamant party-line, ‘drill, baby, drill,’ that kind of mentality that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Jankovsky’s campaign recently paid Magellan to conduct a phone survey on the race. He said Houpt is too liberal and there needs to be more of an emphasis on the high-paying jobs the industry brings to the county, adding, “oil and gas will probably be one of the defining issues of the campaign.”

Saying he’ll bring a more balanced approach to the board of commissioners regarding oil and gas issues, Jankovsky added he still hopes voters will be able to set partisan politics aside.

“It is a local election, and I hope people look at that from Tresi’s philosophy and my philosophy and not even so much looking at as what parties we represent, although people will do that,” Jankovsky said. “But it is a local election, so I hope people will look at us as candidates.”

Both Houpt and Jankovsky expect outside influences will try to sway voters in the nearly 3,000-square-mile county of more than 55,000 residents that stretches from Glenwood Springs in the east all the way to the Utah state line.

In 2008, the nonprofit Western Tradition Partnership, founded in Montana but with offices in Denver, spent money on mailers in support of Martin and Samson, both of whom denied any coordination with their campaigns and denounced outside influences.

Another 501(c)4 that campaigned in the race, Western Heritage, was funded by $10,000 each from current Republican gubernatorial candidate and former congressman Scott McInnis and Paul Rady, CEO of Antero Resources, a Denver-based drilling company pursuing a 200-well project in GarCo’s Battlement Mesa community.

A third nonprofit, Small Town Values, reportedly spent more than $7,000 on advertising for Samson and Martin. The group was registered to former Colorado Republican Party legal counsel John Zakhem.

Two 527 groups, so named for a section of the IRS tax code, insinuated themselves in the election, with both coming back to GOP strategist Scott Shires – an operative with a long history of questionable campaign tactics that have led to legal action. Shires failed to register one of the groups – the Colorado League of Taxpayers – and was fined $7,150 in the case.

Environmental nonprofits under the umbrella of the Western Organization of Resource Councils reportedly spent $15,000 campaigning in support of Democrats Bershenyi and Carter. WORC includes grassroots activist groups like the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance and Battlement Concerned Citizens, which are working to limit the impacts of Antero’s drilling plan in Battlement Mesa.

Garfield County exercises limited land-use authority over that drilling proposal because it maintained standing after approving the original PUD for the former Exxon company town that’s now home to more than 5,500 people. Once Antero submits a drilling plan, the county will begin a special-use permit hearing process.

Dave Devanney of Battlement Concerned Citizens says residents are nervous about the current political environment.

“The current political makeup [of the board], based on the recent decisions we’ve seen regarding the [Safe] Drinking Water Act and pit liners, it seems to us that their concerns are more with protecting the industry than safeguarding the citizens,” Devanney said.

“Our trust is that the commissioners, regardless of their political affiliation, are going to do what’s best for the citizens of Garfield County. We do recognize that the energy industry is very politicized and they’re going to do whatever they can to influence local regulators, and all we can do is try and do our best to influence them as well.”

Monday night in Garfield County nearly 600 people got an automated phone call conducting a survey for Denver-based Magellan Strategies, a Republican polling firm. GOP commissioner candidate Tom Jankovsky Tuesday told the Colorado Independent his campaign paid for the private poll and won’t release the results.

“We did an internal poll just to kind of see where we were. It was not [paid for with] oil and gas [money]; it came out of our campaign fund,” Jankovsky said. “We’re very optimistic after seeing the results of the poll. Right now, there’s a lot of undecideds, and it looks like we’re about neck-and-neck.”

Jankovsky, the general manager of Sunlight Mountain Resort ski area just outside of Glenwood Springs, is running on a pro-business, pro-drilling platform, trying to take down Democrat Trési Houpt, who also sits on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission [COGCC] and is popular locally for protecting the environment and public health.

“She’s a very liberal voice on that [county commission]; I just bring a more balanced approach,” Jankovsky said of his bid to join two fellow Republicans on the three-member board.

The 2008 Garfield County commissioner race was a notorious magnet for outside money, especially from the oil and gas industry, which supported the campaigns of incumbent Republicans John Martin and Mike Samson over a pair of Democratic challengers.

Some of that oil and gas money paid for inaccurate mailers that were never traced. Some of it was above board and came from Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis and the CEO of Antero Resources – a major oil and gas operator in Garfield County. Other groups failed to register and were fined by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

“This particular election has some statewide implications, and so more than likely there will be outside dollars coming in,” Jankovsky said. “I know that Sierra Club and some of those dollars were out there last election for the Democrats and there were some oil and gas dollars out there for the Republicans. I just hope that we can keep to the issues and at least not have things out there that aren’t true.”

In the race this year, Houpt knows she’s carrying a double target on her back as the lone Democrat on the board and frequent voice for environmental and social concerns, as well as a COGCC board member who fought hard for the tougher oil and gas drilling regulations that some Republicans blame for a prolonged drilling slowdown. She was appointed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

“Tom and I have been friends for years, so I think he’s being sincere when he says that,” Houpt said of Jankovsky’s desire for a clean election. “If we get to the point where we always have to worry about the potential for a dirty race, we’re going to lose good people. People won’t be willing to put their families on the line like that anymore. It will be a disservice to everyone if that’s the direction that this country proceeds in.”

David Flaherty, CEO of Magellan Strategies, told the Independent that his firm also conducted private phone surveys for Republicans in the 2008 Garfield County races.

“This one’s a little different,” he said. “There’s only one race rather than two. Trési Houpt’s been around for a while now. It’s just an interesting change in environment, though, where in ’08 everything was booming, property prices were going up. There’s kind of a little bit more of a different feeling.”

But the players are still the same, Flaherty admits.

“Because it is Garfield, a lot of the folks who had an interest two years ago obviously still again have an interest. Garfield County commissioner elections are very interesting – a lot of little dynamics going on.”

According to sources who received the phone survey call Monday, here’s a paraphrased transcript:

Are you registered as a Republican, Democrat, Independent (age, sex)?

How likely are you to vote in the upcoming elections for House, Senate and Garfield County commissioner (extremely, probably, probably not)?

What county issue is most important to you: jobs, lower property taxes, economic development, the environment, unsure?

How do you view Trési Houpt or Tom Jankovsky: favorably, unfavorably, unsure?

Would you be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal, or for a candidate who opposes the Hidden Gems proposal?

Would you be more likely to vote for a candidate who will work with the oil and gas industry to create jobs and economic opportunity, or for a candidate who will work against the oil and gas industry?

What kind of candidate would you be most likely to vote for: someone who pledges to work with oil and gas, or one who is an environmental leader, or a business leader, or is it important to have both political parties represented on the board?

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A New Mexico reality Battlement Mesa residents are seeking to avoid (TexasMary, Flickr)

Residents of the unincorporated Western Slope community of more than 5,000 have been working hard to get out ahead of a plan by Denver-based Antero Resources to drill up to 200 new natural gas wells within town boundaries. The county retains special-use permit authority over the project because it approved the original plan for the former Exxon company town.

Garfield County officials have agreed to fund a Health Impact Study before drilling occurs, but a lawyer consulted by the Battlement Concerned Citizens questions the ability of the county to fully regulate oil and gas drilling if those health impacts prove too extreme. The state, via the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, has the ultimate regulatory authority.

Representatives of the BCC on Monday presented the findings of their attorney to the Garfield County commissioners and asked that the county consider exercising its 1041 powers granted under HB 1041, the Colorado Land Use Enabling Act of 1974. Those powers in the past have been used to stop major infrastructure projects such as the Homestake II water diversion in Eagle County – although that process took years and a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court.

Ron Galterio, co-chair of the Battlement Concerned Citizens – a subcommittee of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance – said Antero chose Battlement Mesa primarily because it’s unincorporated and doesn’t have the regulatory teeth a municipality would have.

“We believe that Garfield County could fill that gap in local regulatory control under the provisions of HB 1041,” Galterio said. “In the case of Battlement Mesa, 1041 Powers would allow the authority of the county to rise to state level in its ability to regulate any development or activity, including oil and gas, that could affect the overall growth and development of the community.”

According to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Republican county commissioner John Martin expressed doubts about the challenges of pursuing 1041 regulation of oil and gas drilling, but Houpt, a Democrat, sought more information:

“While commissioner John Martin told Galterio that working with the 1041 powers is ‘not a really easy process’ and is ‘real challenging,’ commissioner Trési Houpt directed [county attorney Don] DeFord to look into the matter and report back to the commissioners at a future meeting,” the paper reported Tuesday.

Houpt also serves on the COGCC board, and a county exercising 1041 powers over oil and gas drilling would presumably usurp some of the state authority. However, Houpt pointed out that the county already regulates some of the surface impacts of drilling under its own set of regulations, although Garfield doesn’t go as far as La Plata County, which can actually approve the location of a well pad.

She acknowledged 1041 powers tend to typically be exercised in areas of rapid development in order to regulate infrastructure projects such as power lines or water diversion and storage facilities. They have not been used to regulate oil and gas drilling.

BCC consultant and water attorney G. Moss Driscoll of Carbondale said the county must declare Battlement Mesa an area of “state interest,” important to the county because of its potential for future population growth. Driscoll worked on the landmark Homestake II decision, which gave local governments control over development previously regulated primarily by the state.

“The resulting regulatory system would respect the authority of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission over oil and gas drilling, while allowing residents to ensure that the massive scope of Antero’s proposed operations does not permanently impair the community’s long-term growth and development,” Driscoll wrote in an analysis for the BCC.

Dave Devanney, co-chair of BCC, said his group remains confident the county is operating with the best interests of its citizens in mind.

“Of course this confidence — that Garfield County is concerned and being proactive in protecting our health, safety and welfare – is balanced with the extreme concern that we and all citizens of this country feel regarding the unprecedented environmental and economic harm currently happening in the Gulf of Mexico and even not so far away as Salt Lake City, Utah,” Devanney said.

“These concerns come at a time when the energy industry continues to try to eliminate or minimize the rules and regulations that regulators and legislators have imposed.”

Josh Joswick, a former three-term La Plata County commissioner who’s now the oil and gas issues organizer with San Juan Citizens Alliance, said there was some talk of La Plata trying to exercise its 1041 powers when he first came into office in the 1990s but the county decided not to go down that long regulatory road.

Instead it embarked on an equally grueling legal odyssey that resulted in industry and state lawsuits ultimately decided in La Plata’s favor by the Colorado Supreme Court. The county is widely regarded as having some of the most stringent local regulations for oil and gas drilling, but Joswick said 1041 could be a very viable new arrow in a county’s regulatory quiver.

Using 1041 would establish a precedent along the lines of the 1992 high court ruling in favor of La Plata, which Joswick called a “groundbreaking case because the Supreme Court ruled counties can exercise land-use authority when it comes to oil and gas development, but within certain parameters. The kicker on it is was so long as it doesn’t create an ‘operational conflict’ with the COGCC, but didn’t define operational conflict.”

La Plata interpreted the decision to mean the county could weigh in on surface activities such as roads and locations of well pads, but the COGCC would continue to dictate subsurface activities such as actual drilling, hydraulic fracturing and extraction of oil and gas.

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McInnis, a former six-term U.S. congressman born and raised in Glenwood, showed up among a bevy of statewide candidates and GOP political strategists, but he also was there for the announcement by former Glenwood Springs City Councilman David Merritt that he’ll run for the Garfield Board of County Commissioners in November.

Scott McInnis

Merritt will square off against Sunlight Mountain Resort ski area manager Tom Jankovsky in a primary, with the winner taking on entrenched Democrat Trési Houpt, who is running again after deciding last month not to seek the local state House seat after Gunnison’s Kathleen Curry switched from Democrat to independent late last year.

Houpt, appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and a strong backer of environmental and public health regulations, is often the lone dissenting vote on the three-member board of county commissioners in gas-rich GarCo.

McInnis, in fact, donated a cool 10 grand to a political nonprofit called Western Heritage that campaigned in favor of Houpt’s two Republican co-commissioners, John Martin and Mike Samson, in 2008. The head of Denver-based Antero Resources also chipped in for that cause.

Houpt has said all along she expects to have a double bull’s eye on her back because of her position on the COGCC and the GarCo board, although McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy told the Colorado Independent in January that the county commissioner race was not on the McInnis campaign radar at that point.

After Saturday’s dinner, it may have just jumped on their screen.

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