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Editor's Note Opportunity's Knocking Hand Gets Fractured BY KIM PHELAN You don't have to live in Colorado to realize their battle over fracking has potentially disastrous implications for America. Songwriters and philosophers with BakerHostetler in Denver, who has say that you don't know a good thing represented oil firms." till it's gone. That may soon be true for Fractivists aren't kidding around. A the state of Colorado. For in the present Forbes OP/ED contributed by Barry era of America's new energy bonanza, Poulson, professor emeritus, University a battle is raging in the Centennial State of Colorado Boulder and a past comover hydraulic fracturing in the develop- missioner to Colorado Tax Commission, ment of shale energy. And if the state quoted one self-described fractivist: follows in the footsteps of four of its "This is not an anti-fracking fight anycities last fall, a very good thing for Colomore, it's a civil rights movement." rado is in danger of being banned. It gets worse. Poulson wrote that, So where opportunity for continued "In the last election, 11 rural Colorado economic prosperity and job growth is counties asked voters if their county knocking, Colorado's "fractivist" movement commissioners should explore seceshas become the poster child for slamming sion and formation of a 51st state. opportunity's knuckles in the door. Six of these counties voted to pursue The opposition is as formidable as secession." the opportunity. And if it can happen Secession? Are you kidding me? in Colorado, it could happen elsewhere, But industry is not taking the bans both in states with known shale forma- lying down. tions and those yet to be discovered. Bloomberg reported that The ColoAccording to Toby Mack, president rado Oil & Gas Association is suing Fort and CEO of the Energy Equipment Collins and Lafayette, "claiming their and Infrastructure Alliance – who will voter-enacted bans on the extraction moderate a shale oil opportunity panel of oil and natural gas are preempted by for construction dealers on Jan. 17 at state laws regulation those resources," the AED Summit in Houston – environreporter Andrew Harris wrote on Dec. mentalist groups employ fear monger4. "The bans violate the state's Oil and ing and purposeful misrepresentation Gas Conservation Act, which requires and/or mischaracterization of the risks uniform regulation, according to the associated with fracking. And on Nov. complaints." 5, all four of the cities that voted to Harris reported that "the association ban fracking succeeded in suspendseeks court orders permanently blocking or banning the process – Boulder, ing the bans..." Lafayette, Fort Collins and Broomfield, In the Bloomberg story, COGA the latter of which was so close that a President Tisha Schuller said, "With 95 recount had to be taken before a mora- percent of all wells in Colorado hydrautorium on fracking was the conclusive lically fractured, any ban on fracking is election result. a ban on oil and gas development." According to a Reuters Nov. 6 story Gotcha. It's not just a war on fracking – by Keith Coffman, the scope of the it's a war on fossil fuels. battleground was clearly drawn: There It also appears to be war of emotion is "possibility of a statewide ban findversus reason and civil order. Fracking is ing its way onto the 2014 Colorado closely regulated by states, and permits ballot," said Paul Encokson, a lawyer are issued by voter-approved govern- ment agencies. And of course energy companies recognize it's in their best interest to comply fully – any accident would be a death knell to all producers of shale oil and gas. While the verdict of Broomfield's moratorium was still in question, The Editorial Board of The Denver Post opined that it hoped ban opponents would prevail. "Broomfield has already carefully updated its oil and gas regulations, which now go beyond state and federal law. The city is a textbook example of how to responsibly meet the challenges and concerns of drilling on the Front Range." The board went on to say that "a de facto ban on drilling at the local level is almost certainly illegal under Colorado court precedents." Shale energy development offers unbelievable opportunity at myriad levels for construction equipment dealers all over the U.S. But the broader implications for the U.S. economy are even greater – by 2020, Mack estimates, 3.3 million jobs will be added, $125 billion will be added to federal and state tax revenues, $468 billion will be added to the GDP, and $258 billion will be added to the country's annual industrial output. Shale energy has obvious national security benefits, too. Please come hear more about the threats and opportunities on Jan. 17 and how your company stands to benefit from America's energy boom. You can't hear opportunity knocking if you're not in the house. Thanks for reading. KIM PHELAN (kphelan@aednet.org) is the executive editor of Construction Equipment Distribution and director of programs for AED. January 2014 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 7