January
“…To avoid paying the plugging cost, a common practice in the oil and gas industry is for larger firms to either drag out plugging the well for as long as they can — this Colorado well had not produced a profitable amount of oil in twenty years before finally stopping production in 2020 — or keep selling the dying well to smaller and smaller companies which have a greater chance of going bankrupt, pushing the cost to taxpayers.”
February
“[Oil and gas operators] save boatloads of money every time they hang an ‘out of service’ sign on a well instead of plugging it,” says Kate Merlin, an attorney for the Climate and Energy Program at WildEarth Guardians, an environmental advocacy organization based in Wheat Ridge. “They’ll say anything to get out of paying. They’ll say, ‘There’s no problem.’ They’ll promise to be good, they’ll say we’re killing them. But this entire state is littered with thousands of rusting and leaking wells, in suburban backyards, in wildlife habitat, under farms, even overlooking the Colorado River.”
March
- Fact Check: Oil and Gas Industry Downplays Problem of Low-Producing Wells
- CO Passes ‘Strongest in the Nation’ Oil and Gas Rules, Enviro Groups Worry They Are Still ‘Inadequate’
- Enviro Groups Want CO Employee Retirement Fund To Divest From Russian Fossil Fuel Companies
- Fact Check: Why Environmental Regulations Are Not To Blame for High Gas Prices
- Thermal Imagery Exposes Leaks at CO Oil and Gas Sites, Cracks in State Pollution Violation Procedures
“A playground and a bike path are nestled between a row of homes in the Thornton neighborhood of North Creek Farms. Roughly 200 feet away is an oil and gas drilling site that is leaking hydrocarbons like methane.”
April
June
- CO Enviro Groups Ask State to Widen Scope When Evaluating Harmful Impacts of Oil and Gas Industry
- Report: Tens of Thousands of CO Children Threatened by Proximity to Oil & Gas Operations
- Fact Check: Politicized Gas Price Complaints From GOP Ignore Global Warming
- Oil and Gas Companies Benefit From Tax Breaks in CO
“Over the past three years Colorado has strengthened its regulations on oil and gas companies operating in the state, prompting claims from oil and gas industry executives that these environmental policies are strangling their ability to drill. In addition to ignoring the impact oil and gas production has on global warming, this argument also ignores the tax breaks that are available to oil and gas companies.”
July
August
“The oil and gas provisions included in the IRA are intended to make sure oil and gas companies pay their fair share for their activities and to cut down on harmful emissions that the oil and gas industry produces. However, environmental groups in Colorado have criticized some of the IRA’s provisions that were added in order to assure passage through the U.S. Senate.”
September
- CO Enviro Groups Petition State to Protect the Air on High-Pollution Days
- CO Enviro Groups Demand Halt to Suncor Rocky Mountain Oil Pipeline Construction
October
- Aurora Residents, Enviro Activists Say Proposed Oil & Gas Development Ignores Cumulative Impacts of Pollution
- State Gives Oil and Gas Companies More Time to Submit Plan Aimed at Preventing Wells From Being Abandoned
November
- Campaign Cash Snapshot: 98% of Oil & Gas Donations Went to GOP in 7 Key CO Senate Races
- Kirkmeyer Blames Dems for Decreasing Oil & Gas Production, Which Has Actually Increased Since 2018
- CO Oil & Gas Commission Sets Date for Public Hearing on Cumulative Environmental Impacts
- CO Coalition Urges Phase-out of New Oil and Gas Permits by 2030
December
Nalick also explained that lobbying and other methods are ways companies can negotiate with politicians. Last year, the pharmaceutical manufacturing lobby spent twice as much as the next-biggest industry lobbying against lower drug prices.
“What you see overall is you see companies publically do one thing and privately do something else,” Nalick said. “So campaign money is not the main source of influence from companies anymore, so if you compare it to lobbying, if you compare it to donations to trade associations, and you compare it to dark money it’s a very small percentage. So when you track the campaign donations, it’s kind of money they want you to see. Rather than the money that’s out there that they’re spending in other means that are harder to track such as lobbying and dark money. What you’ll see is in the public: they’ll give money one way and lobby in a different direction.”
