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Colorado is in the midst of an oil and gas boom. Since 1999 the number of oil and gas drilling permits issued annually in Colorado has increased by more than 600 percent. What comes next will dwarf anything Colorado has ever experienced. We need to expand our energy supply, but there is disturbing evidence that many are willing to do it at significant risk to Colorado's public health and environment. We need common sense protections to insure that oil and gas drilling doesn't damage our drinking water and our public health. Now is the time to adopt sensible protections.

Coloradans overwhelmingly support safeguards on oil and gas drilling
A July 2008 poll conducted by RBI Strategies and Research shows that a majority of Coloradans believe that oil and gas drilling must be done, but only in a safe and responsible manner that does not cut corners and endanger public health. Seventy percent of those polled favor responsible drilling over rapid oil and gas development.

What happens when protections for drinking water and public health do not exist?
In April, a Durango nurse suffered heart, liver and lung failure after being exposed to drilling chemicals while treating a gas field worker. Under current rules industry does not have to disclose the specific chemicals they use. This resulted in a lack of key information that could have aided her treatment. This July, Halliburton executives testified that requiring the company to reveal the types of chemicals used in oil and gas production "is much like asking Coca-Cola to disclose the formula of Coke" and therefore they are unwilling to disclose what toxic chemicals they are using in our communities.

In June, a hunting guide from Garfield County drank water from his well that had been contaminated with benzene from nearby gas drilling. When questioned about the incident a toxicologist working for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association testified that it should be considered acceptable so long as it didn't cause a permanent illness such as cancer.

Common sense protections
In 2007, the Colorado Legislature passed, with strong bi-partisan support, two laws that directed the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to update its rules for oil and gas operations. The Commission's proposed rules offer common sense solutions to help meet our energy needs while protecting current and future generations of Coloradans, including:

• Protecting our drinking water by establishing a 500 foot protective zone – as originally proposed by the Commission - around drinking water supplies in which new oil and gas drilling is not permitted;
  
• Protecting air quality by requiring certain production equipment in northwest Colorado to utilize odor control devices when they are in close proximity to homes, schools, or other occupied buildings;
  
• Expanding public health protections to help ensure that overflowing waste pits don't contaminate streams, as they did numerous times this winter; and
  
• Protecting our wildlife by protecting critical ranges for wildlife such as deer, elk, antelope and trout.

Why won't the oil and gas industry agree to protect our drinking water and public?
Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry's response to these common sense protections has been to threaten job losses and scare Coloradans with dire economic predictions. The oil and gas industry is posting record level profits. They can afford to do it right and protect our drinking water and public health.

» Take action on this issue today: e-mail Kurt to find out how you can get involved.