U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert recently asked to meet with the La Plata County commissioners. I attended this meeting. In her statements, Boebert asserted that Colorado, and by association La Plata County, shut down the oil and gas industry. She implied that moms now have to work outside the home and get child care because the industry has been shut down. As is too often the case, Boebert had not done her homework.
Colorado’s oil and gas industry is doing just fine. Hundreds of new oil and gas well permits have been approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission since 2019, even under the regulations passed that year to place the health of people, wildlife and the environment first above profits.
In 2021, there were 303,730 jobs in oil and gas: 7.7% of Colorado’s total employment. Locally, there are 19 operators listed on the La Plata Energy Council’s web site and 11 companion service providers. Almost 3,000 wells are in production in this county with the vast majority operated by the Southern Ute Indian tribe. These numbers hardly reflect an industry that has been “run out of Colorado by regulations.”
As to her fear that oil and gas regulations mean women have to work, well, she collects a paycheck from taxpayers even though her soon-to-be ex-husband Jason Boebert has been paid nearly $1 million over two years as a “consultant” for an oil and gas company with a large Western Slope presence.
Karen Pontius
Durango
