Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Tilting At Windmills -- Not The Bakken; An "Energy" Story Out of Colorado

Colorado Springs, CO, population: 420,000
Number of protesters: "about 20" -- the number was probably rounded up -- see photo.

A thank you to a reader for sending me the link.
This used to be a land proud of its oil barons. Now the energy industry that has brought wealth and jobs across the interior West is prompting angry protests by citizens sporting gas masks and using bullhorns at public hearings.
A generation after the fictional oil tycoons of the TV soap “Dynasty” gave Denver’s oil and gas industry a glamorous sheen, the Rocky Mountain region appears to be questioning its romance with the industry. New drilling technology has moved oil and gas production from the sparsely populated plains, where oil rigs are embraced as job creators, closer to cities and suburbs. Now, conflicts are increasing along the populous eastern fringe of the Rockies.
Gas-mask-wearing protesters are confronting city and county officials considering whether to limit or ban hydraulic fracturing, a drilling procedure in which water, sand and chemicals are forced deep underground to pry oil and gas from rock. Fracking, as the procedure is called, has led to an energy boom in areas previously unattractive to energy producers, but it is also raising concerns about air and water quality.
The protests in Colorado have gotten intense....
Something tells me the average Colorado resident prefers to have a SUV if given the option. 

2 comments:

  1. Carlover's long comment at the link might work in ND as well as it works in CO.

    Anon 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As long as the protesters stay out of the Bakken. Smile.

      Delete

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