Greeley Oil And Gas Meeting Draws Intense Interest From Industry, Residents
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - In Greeley, where oil and gas perhaps has the greatest impact in Colorado, industry supporters and concerned citizens again raised their hopes and fears during a community meeting on Thursday.
The forum in Weld County -- where oil and gas drilling is prominent and its implications huge -- drew robust attendance in the hundreds. It's one of the last meetings hosted by Colorado's oil and gas task force, created by Gov. John Hickenlooper last summer as part of a compromise over fracking-related issues.
Once it's heard from stakeholders, the task force will present its recommendations on how to proceed with oil and gas development in Colorado to the state Legislature.
The task force will hold two more public meetings, both in Denver, before submitting its findings.
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At most meetings, so many have turned out to speak that the task force can only hear from about half of the attendees. In Greeley, everyone -- from oil and gas workers, to merchants who depend on the industry, to concerned parents -- wanted their opinions considered.
"Having them actually come to put solid proposals on the table and wrestle with those and try to see if they can reach consensus has yet to happen," task force spokesman Doug Young said.
When a consensus is reached, however, industry supporters said they do not want the group to recommend any more regulations, arguing that they would cost jobs.
"There's other parts of the world where it's much cheaper to extract a barrel of oil than it may be in the United States. If there's additional regulations put on that, and makes that more expensive, with the declining price of oil, it's obviously going to impact their business decisions," said Eric Berglund, the president and CEO of Upstate Colorado Economic Development, a nonprofit that services Weld County employers.
But parents like Jill Barker see Greeley's task force meeting as the last chance to have concerns heard about the proximity of drill sites to schools and homes.
"They are the people that are going to determine how oil and gas regulations in the state go, and we have to have things changed," she said.
Barker leads a group of more than 200 residents fighting a proposed drill site near Bethke Elementary School in Timnath.
"My fear is, what if something happens to these kids at this school? These are our babies. This is important to us," she said.
