More posturing from Oil and Gas

An industry trade group has changed Colorado's ranking from 1st in the world to 29th worst place to do oil and gas business.

The Global Petroleum Survey 2008 released Thursday by the Fraser Institute in Calgary, Alberta, found that Colorado ranked on par with Pakistan, Ukraine and Indonesia in terms of investment potential.

It attributed Colorado's sudden fall from the No. 1 rank to Gov. Bill Ritter's efforts to overhaul oil and gas drilling rules.

"Survey respondents were very concerned with Colorado's changes to drilling-permit requirements and other more stringent regulations," said Gerry Angevine, the institute's senior economist. "The Colorado Oil and Gas Association estimates the new rules could increase drilling costs by $60,000 to $600,000 per well."

A couple of things,

• This is an oil and gas industry trade group. Their salaries are paid for by their members and any surveys are also funded by members. In short this is not a credible source or survey.
• I have never heard anyone reference the previous Fraser study while defending the new regulations. If that ranking was referenced it was a footnote and not a prominent part of anyone's argument. Instead the arguments have been that the industry has been essentially self-regulated and that our regulations and taxes are far behind our neighboring states.
• It's all a little too convenient that just 6 months after the initial survey this trade group decides to survey again and lo and behold just as Colorado is working on new regulations our ranking tumbles.
  
• The survey is based on conjecture and speculation. The new rules have not been finalized, they have not been put in place and no one has yet worked under the proposed rules.

This is a bunch of nonsense but it's not surprising considering the source. Anyone who stops and thinks about this story for just a few moments will easily recognize the glaring holes in the story that the oil and gas industry is trying to sell us.