Open letter to the Honorable John Hickenlooper, Governor State of Colorado

July, 31 2012 Dear Governor, Let me introduce myself, I am Carl B. Erickson. I reside in Weld county Colorado. I am currently running for Weld county Commissioner at Large as a write- in candidate. Overall I am very pleased with your tenure as Governor, especially your handling of the recent tragedies in Aurora and the wildfire epidemic. But as a resident of Weld county, the county which has the largest number of oil and gas wells in it, I have one very large area of concern. I am heartily worried about the future of our great State, I fear the will and welfare of our citizens are being widely ignored. Widely voiced resistance to unwanted hydro-fracture drilling and the plethora of support industries involved in it are met by platitudes and rhetoric by our elected officials at the state and local levels. You, sir, are among the issuers of these. On July 17, 2012 you were quoted as saying “Like any industrial process, fracking has some risks but, really, if done properly, certainly out in the West, there is literally no risk — certainly much less than many industrial processes,” in an interview for Fortune Magazine. Which is it Governor? Some risk, literally no risk, or much less risk? Is it the ‘some risk’ of polluting reported by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission estimated at 44% of spills at fracking pads resulting in contamination of groundwater? Or the ‘literally no risk’ imposed by drinking water contamination as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency in their draft report on contamination in Pavillion WY? Or the ‘much less risk’ posed by the EPA analysis of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas being 9,000 times higher than previously reported? Or, maybe the operative phrase is, ‘if done properly’. Perhaps the necessary steps are not in place to insure the responsible drilling of which you speak. Perhaps the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s maximum fine of $1000 dollars a day per incident isn’t anything more than an acceptable operating cost to the offenders. Or maybe the handful of investigators we have is not enough. Whatever the cause, if we are not ensuring drilling is ‘done properly’ we are ignoring the health and welfare of our environment and our residents. Stunts like swilling fracking fluid as you said you did in a March 1 2012 radio report for KUNC, do little to assuage concerns when residents who live in the vicinity of frack sites can observe the effect of spilled fluids first-hand. Dying plants and dead water life are ample proof that just because you can drink a little something (grain alcohol for example), doesn’t mean it is healthy or conducive to growth when applied in gallons. Residents of Weld county find it a hard pill to swallow when ample water to raise crops and quench the thirst of livestock and yards is unavailable to them. Insult is added to this injury when rows of fracking water trucks line up 20 deep to fill up with water from municipal fire hydrants as they do in Greeley, and then transport that water on county roads so dry they spew dust high in the sky and depress the roadbed with their weight, right past farmers and ranchers whose crops and livestock could have been sustained for a while on the contents of those trucks. The contents of said trucks to be pumped into the impervious shale layer that will only return a small fraction of its contents to water cycle. I’m sure you have heard of these issues, as well as the issues of inappropriate use of roads and blatant disregard of traffic laws in Weld County and elsewhere in the state. Yes we have jobs, but at what cost? At what level of quality are we subsisting in this energy economy? Cash is one of those things that may be edible, but is not beneficial as a primary foodstuff. Human and environmental issues are not things we can plug in to a cost/benefit analysis; any loss in either of these areas negates any benefit that might be gained. If this industry cannot operate ‘properly’ it needs to be halted until such time as our lives and livelihood can be protected. Therefore, Governor, I implore you to reconsider your stance on the practice of hydro-fracturing, considering the welfare of the majority of the citizens of this state before the financial benefits of a minority interest. Respectfully, Carl B. Erickson https://sites.google.com/site/electcarlberickson/

Councilman Brian Bagley says oil/gas task force a joke

By Scott Rochat
Longmont Times Call 
3/14/2012

Longmont City Councilman Brian Bagley speaks to a small
audience of about 25 during a panel discussion about oil
and gas regulations in Longmont at the American Legion Hall
on Wednesday. Bagley called the state s new oil and gas
task force, of which he is a member a "joke". (Greg Lindstrom) 

LONGMONT -- City Councilman Brian Bagley called the state's new oil and gas task force a "joke" during a Wednesday night panel discussion.

Bagley, who belongs to the task force, called it more interested in process than in getting down to issues, and not even that for long. The first meeting last week was scheduled for three hours, Bagley said, but lasted just 40 minutes.

"I said we're a task force -- aren't we supposed to get on task?" Bagley said during an oil and gas panel convened Wednesday by Longmont's 9-12 Tea Party at the American Legion. "The oil and gas task force is just contributing to the problem, because people don't trust the process."

"Nothing's happening," he said. "The task force is a joke."

The official focus for the task force was the same as Wednesday's panel: finding a balance between state and local drilling regulations. Drilling operations are overseen by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, but several communities have pushed for tighter rules at a local level. A draft set of Longmont regulations, for example, bans drilling in residential zones and mandates "closed-loop" systems for cleanup instead of putting waste in an open pit. Other issues, such as increasing the distance between a well and a home, are part of a set of voluntary rules companies can agree to in exchange for a speeded-up permit process.

The challenge is that some areas are "pre-empted" by the state -- but establishing which ones usually requires a court case to decide if the state's needs or the community's take precedence.

Continue reading...

Ban Fracking in Colorado! Please Sign the Petition

Governor Hickenlooper proposed new regulations that govern natural gas development in Colorado a few months ago. These new rules were just made public, but instead of putting in real protections for our drinking water and families, they fall short by letting companies like Shell and Chevron continue to frack Colorado.

Can you tell Governor Hickenlooper that it's time to get real: ban fracking now!

 SIGN PETITION

Former Petroleum Engineer

Gov. John Hickenlooper

CO

Phone:(303) 866-2471

Fax:(303) 866-2003

As a constituent, I feel the new oil and gas rule falls abysmally short in protecting my drinking water, my family and my community. I urge you to ban fracking in Colorado to truly protect my future.

The proposed disclosure rule has a giant loophole that allows oil and gas companies to claim trade secret exemptions to avoid revealing what they are putting into the ground. There is no appeal to challenge these trade secrets; the oil and gas companies are unaccountable. This trade secret exemption needs to be taken out of the rule.

Furthermore, simply because I know what is potentially contaminating my drinking water doesn't make me any safer--my drinking water is still being contaminated. I urge you to ban fracking in order to truly protect Colorado and Coloradans.


Sincerely,

 SIGN PETITION

Gov. John Hickenlooper Takes Questions From the Public - Fracking

CPR.org

by Michelle P. Fulcher

Listen to audio



Interview Produced by Michelle P. Fulcher and Lee Hill

Time for our regular conversation with Governor John Hickenlooper. For the last month or so, we’ve been asking what questions you have for the governor. Many of you have joined our Public Insight Network to share those questions and concerns. On today’s show, he’s going to answer some of them.
The governor mentioned a site for pointing out inefficiencies in state government. Go to this site where you'll find a link to provide feedback.


Here's a transcript of the interview:

RYAN WARNER, Host: Governor, Thank you for being with us.

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado governor: Oh, glad to be back.

Warner: We've gotten questions, even some suggestions for you, and themes certainly emerged. We heard a lot about state employee pay and benefits. We're going to talk about that shortly. We also heard a lot about “fracking,” the process of injecting chemicals deep into the ground to free up oil and natural gas. Lots of people told us their fears of those chemicals contaminating water.
Here's a question from Philip Davis, who is a farmer who lives in Hotchkiss, Colorado, on the Western Slope.

PHILIP DAVIS, Hotchkiss farmer: What do you say to people of Garfield County, who believe that fracking has polluted their ground water and resulted in serious diseases? What do you say to the people of Mesa and Delta counties, who depend on a clean environment, who feel powerless against Big Oil and look to their state government to balance the scales and to protect our environment and who are confident that the environmental impacts of fracking are not adequately understood at this time?

Warner: Multi-part question there, but what do you say?

Hickenlooper: Well, there is a great deal of fear out there about fracking. People are-- don't understand it. They're concerned.

Warner: Is it justified?

Hickenlooper: I don't think so. Again, having spent five years as a geologist and really looked into this pretty hard, there was a number of stories in the New York Times, we can't find examples in Garfield County or anywhere in Colorado where fracking has gotten into groundwater.

Now there are a number of occasions where oil companies have been careless or made mistakes and frack fluid has gotten into a stream or a pond, gotten into our water, and my opinion is I think we should be even more vigilant and increase the fines on those things.

But the fracking itself, what you're doing is you're pushing a dense fluid, with, you know, minute grains of sand and silt into the formation. So the formation is already under tremendous pressure, but you're pushing this fluid out there and pushing open these micro-fractures. They're very, very small fractures. And then the silt gets in there and holds them open. So, then, when you stop pushing, all that frack fluid comes back up the pipe again. It doesn't sit there out in the formation.

So, the vast majority of it, 95% of it, comes back up the pipe, and most oil companies, the good oil and gas companies use it again. So they're recycling that water and they're not wasting it.

And one of the things we're doing in Colorado and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association
announced a month ago that we're going to do a baseline water sampling program. So before anyone drills a well, we're going to measure what the ground water is and look at the chemical analysis of it and at regular periods after that well is drilled, if it's fracked, go back and measure and look at that water quality again just to make sure that there is no communication.

Warner: Communication? You mean between the fracking fluid and water?

Hickenlooper: Yes. No communication between, exactly, where the frack fluid has been pushed into the formation and that somehow that didn't get up around the drill pipe and get into ground water.
We're working aggressively with the oil and gas community to convince them, push them, that all the components of the frack fluid should be revealed. They are at the well site now. We want to put them up on some sort of a website and right now, about 90% of the companies drilling already do that voluntarily. So, I don't think there's too much reason not to go ahead and get everybody to do it. And then doing this baseline water sampling is really going to allow us to make sure, to prove to people, that there is no polluting of ground water from fracking.

Warner: So you've got the baseline water testing. How soon would that go into place?

Hickenlooper: That's in place. They're starting it right now, as we speak.

Warner: Okay. And then the separate issue, which is disclosing fracking fluids, that will be a state rule, correct?

Continue reading...


please vote on the poll below

Colorado announces water-sampling effort to fight fracking fears

Houston (Platts)--

2Aug2011

The governor of Colorado on Tuesday announced a joint program between the state and the oil and natural gas industry to collect groundwater samples before and after hydraulic fracturing operations, to test whether they are harmful to the environment.

Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said the effort was the first of its kind and was needed to build trust with the public and fight doubts and "paranoia" about the effects of hydraulic fracturing operations.

"The best way to fight back on that kind of misinformation is to be transparent ... to clearly demonstrate beyond any possible doubt that this doesn't happen," he told the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's Energy Epicenter conference in Denver.

The water sampling effort will be a statewide, voluntary program where groundwater samples would be collected by a third-party, with oversight and monitoring by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The department would also hold onto all the sampling data, which would allow it to evaluate trends and water quality, Hickenlooper said.

Hickenlooper also said many larger drillers, representing 90% of all the wells set to be drilled in 2011, have already signed up for the program. He said he is hoping for near 100% participation.

Continue reading...

Best of luck Governor. The probability of water contamination already exists and may rear it's head in the years to come.  If billions/trillions of gallons of 'toxic' produced water has already been, and will continue to be, deposited down into the ground,  do you really expect it to migrate this rapidly to show positive contamination results? 

Years from now we may see some horrific water contamination but let's be realistic with your water testing campaign. You appear to 'fight fracking fears' with demonstrations that indicate negative contamination results. 

We advise you test the deep injection wells and publish the chemical analytical results now so that the citizens of Colorado have  future chemical benchmarks of non-point source pollution sites. We also strongly urge you to  hire more field inspectors to prevent surface contamination as well. 

Is the state in collision with its mission statement?  Bullet point number four: 'The prevention and mitigation of adverse environmental impacts.'  Prevention is a proactive  approach of employing mitigating factors. It may appear that adaptive 'too-late' management is once again haunting us.


please vote on poll below - thank you

Colorado Governor Hickenlooper and Senator Udall Support Fracking?

Tell them to Ban Fracking in Colorado!

In the past two weeks, both Governor Hickenlooper and Senator Udall have claimed that fracking won't contaminate your water. Their statements are in clear contradiction to the overwhelming evidence that shows fracking poses a danger to drinking water, public health and the environment. Tell Senator Udall and Governor Hickenlooper to ban fracking now!

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a technique used to drill for natural gas in dense shale rock formations. It is water-intensive, and it requires a cocktail of sand and chemicals that are linked to cancer and other health issues. Previously touted as the solution to our energy woes that will "deliver big profits," there have been 10 studies in the last 18 months — including peer reviewed analyses and a New York Times investigation — that show fracking is inherently unsafe. So why are Senator Udall and Governor Hickenlooper claiming that fracking doesn't pose a threat to our drinking water?  Urge them to ban fracking today! 

Dozens of other communities have been so concerned about the potential harm fracking can cause to their community that they have banned the practice. Colorado needs to follow their example.  Let Senator Udall and Governor Hickenlooper know that you want them to ban fracking in Colorado!

Speak out for safe water:

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7547

Thanks for taking action,

Sam Schabacker
Mountain West Region Director
Food & Water Watch
sam(at)fwwatch(dot)org

please comment

Fracking Letter from Retired Public School Teacher to CO Gov. Hickenlooper

23011 County Road 150

Agate, CO 80101

August 3, 2011

Governor John Hickenlooper

136 State Capitol

Denver, CO 80203

We appreciate the effort you are doing requiring oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. We would like you to consider implementing additional rules to protect the citizenry from other potential hazards. My wife and I live in central Elbert County and are anticipating the oil development in the near future and are very concerned about the effects on our health, the environment and our property values.

One doesn’t have to look too hard to find numerous incidences of the consequences of living in an industrial site. We have worked and lived in Elbert County for 30 years and have looked forward to retiring on our ranch where we grow organic vegetables, raise dairy goats, chickens and a few steers. (By the way, we met you at the Elbert County Democratic party last year and voted for you.) We consider ourselves lucky to watch the constellations move through the night sky. We can hear the coyotes call, the songbirds sing and the wind blow through the Ponderosa Pines. Our well water is ample and good. We know that when the ten story, 150’, oil rigs move in with generators running 24/7, lights lighting up the sky at night, non stop truck traffic and the smell of spent diesel fuel and open hydraulic fracking fluid pits, that will all change. With the mortgage debacle, our property is now worth less than what we owe on it; to make matters even more dismal, property values around oil fields typically depreciate 25% to 75%. And, because of President Lincoln’s 1862, grant of mineral rights to the railroad (and subsequent purchase by them by Anadarko) we’ll get nothing in royalties.

It is obvious that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, after attending numerous meetings hosted by them, don’t care about the results of hydraulic fracturing on the public. It is fruitless to talk to them. We have petitioned the county commissioners to install regulations to protect the county but apparently the State regulations preempt the counties’. The Colorado Supreme Court has given the oil companies the right to drill on anyone’s land to get to their minerals. Surface owners have no rights.

Clearly this is not a government by the people or for the people because the laws do not protect the people. Clearly the government is for large corporations by large corporations, who, by the way, have grossed billions of dollars in the first two quarters of this year and have been subsidized by the taxpayers.

I am not a petroleum engineer or a geologist or an attorney (I’m a retired public school teacher who can’t afford an attorney) so don’t have a good grasp of what to ask specifically but have watched numerous on line videos, read as much as I can, and, like I’ve stated, gone to as many meetings and discussions as I physically could. I have watched the documentaries ‘Gasland’ and ‘Split Estate’. I’ve read ‘Collateral Damage’ by Tara Meixsell. I’ve talked to geologists and people who work for Encana, Chesapeake, and Anadarko. I’ve driven through Garfield and Weld counties. I feel that my list below is reasonable to protect public safety and health.

1) The set back for distance to residences or existing water wells should be changed to at least 1320’, a quarter mile. Three hundred fifty feet is totally inadequate.

2) The EPA is currently evaluating stricter air pollution regulations. I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for a moratorium on drilling until the EPA completes its evaluation in early 2012.

3) I don’t believe that it is unreasonable to ask the oil companies to purchase infrared cameras for the county so that property owners can capture air quality emissions on film as evidence.

4) Counties should have the oil companies pay an impact fee to have an independent company test all wells for aquifer depth and water quality before, during and for a minimum of five years after the well has been fracked.

5) Oil companies should have to maintain the road and bridge infrastructure.

6) Counties need deputies to monitor the truck traffic and to help monitor the behavior of transient workers.

7) Our local fire departments need equipment and personnel to fight potential fires quickly. Special foam is needed to fight toxic chemical fires. Our local stations are ill equipped.

8) Counties need their own inspectors to monitor the drilling. There are only 17 inspectors from the COGCC for the 40,000+ wells in the State.

9) Bonds need to be collected to compensate for lost property values especially for those of us who have our mineral rights severed.

10) All fluids used in hydraulic fracturing should be contained in closed loop systems. There should be no open pits allowed.

11) Toxic chemicals should be banned from fracking fluids.

12) Regulations need to be in place to control the disposal of used liquids.

13) Night lights need to be modified.

For the sake of Laura Amos, Chris Mobaldi and the countless others who have become sick, died or have had their lives needlessly disrupted, thank you for considering the above. I look forward to hearing/reading your response,

Rick Blotter

rickblotter@hotmail.com

303-621-2468

Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper Proposes Fracking Fluid Rule - Charlatan

Dan Elliott
The Associated Press
Post Independent
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

DENVER, Colorado — Gov. John Hickenlooper proposed Tuesday that energy companies operating in his state be required to publicly disclose the ingredients of the fluids they inject into the ground to extract more oil and gas, even though he said there is almost no chance the fluids are contaminating water wells.

“It's almost inconceivable” that so-called fracking fluids affect groundwater because they are released far below the level of the water, Hickenlooper told a Colorado Oil and Gas Association conference in Denver.

Disclosing the contents would help build public trust in the industry, said Hickenlooper, a Democrat and former petroleum geologist.

Fracking involves pumping a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals to crack rock formations deep underground and release oil and gas. The practice has taken on national importance as companies use it in more states.


Texas has a new law that will require energy companies to reveal the makeup of fracking fluids. Pennsylvania plans to measure baseline public health conditions in the northeastern part of the state to help track any future health impact from drilling.

Energy companies resist revealing what is in their fracking fluids, saying the contents are proprietary and disclosing them could hurt their ability to compete. Critics, including environmental groups, say the chemicals could be tainting drinking water.
Tisha Conoly Schuller, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said the industry is “open to working with the administration” on disclosure rules.

Hickenlooper said fracking disclosure rules for Colorado would be written and enforced by the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the energy industry in Colorado.
The energy industry has been harshly critical of...

Continue reading...

 

Your forgetting one chronic element  Mr. Hickenlooper; produced water spills on the surface are happening every single day across Colorado.  If you knew what we knew, you would retract your statement above: “It's almost inconceivable” that so-called fracking fluids affect groundwater because they are released far below the level of the water."

 

Tell us the probability versus the possibility Mr. Hickenlooper when Colorado will eventually have over 100,000 active O&G wells. One need not be a scientist or a biased petroleum geologist, such as yourself to make a sound assessment that fracking is an archaic and inept method.

You appear to not be a good fit for the benefit of Colorado's natural resources. We didn't vote for you! Your feeble attempts at winning the hearts of the citizens is clearly false.  You are now proposing frac-fluid disclosures to only fight the current resistance.  Again,  fracking is an archaic and inept method. It's charlatan at best.

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Gov. Hickenlooper Announces Appointments to State Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

Gov. John Hickenlooper announced today eight appointments to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission promotes the responsible development of Colorado’s oil and gas natural resources by balancing the efficient exploration and production of oil and gas resources, the prevention of waste and the protection of the public health, environment and mineral owners’ rights.

“Different voices and a united spirit of collaboration are key to the success of the commission,” Hickenlooper said. “We are confident this group will help serve the industry, land owners and the environment well as it navigates through issues that are important to both the state’s economy and protection of Colorado’s beautiful landscapes.”

The new commission members replace members whose terms expired July 1, 2011. They must be confirmed by the Colorado Senate and will serve terms of four years, expiring July 1, 2015.

The new commission members are:

Mayor Tommy E. Holton of Fort Lupton
Holton will serve as a local government official and as a Republican. He has extensive land use experience and once served as Chairman of the Weld County Planning Commission. Holton currently serves on the Weld County Land Use Review Committee and is a past member of the Technical Advisory Committee in Weld County and the Weld County Fair Board. He was previously self-employed as an outside consultant for land use issues; owned a company called Advanced Insulation Systems; owned a company called Rocky Mountain Airparts; worked at Farley Machine as a welder and fabricator for oil field equipment and trucks; worked at Caribou Creek Mining Co.; and worked at B.C. Airmotive as a pilot. Holton earned a bachelor’s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

John H. Benton of Littleton
Benton will serve as a member with substantial experience in the oil and gas industry and with a college degree in petroleum geology or petroleum engineering and as a Republican. He is vice president and general manager for the Rockies Division of Rex Energy Corp. in Denver. He previously worked as vice president for the Western Division of El Paso E&P Corp. in Denver; as asset manager for Whiting Oil and Gas Corp.; as CEO of Calver Resources Inc. in Calgary, Alberta; as chief engineer and later as asset manager for the South Region of ConocoPhillips Canada in Calgary, Alberta; as production manager for West Wyoming and West Texas and later as manager of acquisitions and dispositions for Westport Oil and Gas Co. in Denver; and as operations manager for Orbis Engineering in Denver. Benton earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Colorado School of Mines.

W. Perry Pearce of Denver
Pearce will serve as a member with substantial experience in the oil and gas industry and as a Democrat. He is manager of state government affairs for ConocoPhillips/Burlington Resources. He previously worked as an attorney with Montgomery & Andrews in Santa Fe, N.M.; as general counsel for the Oil Conservation Division and Energy and Minerals Department in New Mexico; and as an attorney with Bigbee, Stephenson, Carpenter & Crout in Santa Fe, N.M. Pearce earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of San Francisco and a juris doctorate from Hastings College of Law at the University of California.

Andrew Lawrence Spielman of Denver
Spielman will serve as a member with formal or substantial experience in environmental or wildlife protection and as a Democrat. He is an attorney at Hogan Lovells in Denver and has federal, state and local government experience with natural resources, land use and Western public lands law to assist energy developers, ski areas, water suppliers, ranchers, tribes and others with obtaining regulatory approvals and permits from governments across the United States. Spielman currently serves as Chairman of Colorado’s Regional Air Quality Council and served earlier in senior positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., including acting Associate Director of the Office of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities. He previously worked at the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget; in staff positions in the U.S. Senate; and with local governments in parks, open space, utilities and housing and economic development. Spielman earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University.

Thomas L. Compton of Hesperus, reappointed
Compton will serve as a member actively engaged in agricultural production and also a royalty owner, west of the Continental Divide, and as a Republican. He is the owner and manager of Compton Cattle Co., a commercial beef cattle enterprise. Compton previously worked as adjunct faculty at Fort Lewis College; as a legislative aide to former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell; and as a professor of biology and chair of the Division of Natural Sciences at LeTourneau University in Texas. He is also vice president of the Colorado Rural Electric Board of Directors and serves on the LaPlata Open Space Conservancy Board and the Governor’s Task Force on Colorado Roadless Areas. Compton earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University at San Jose, a master’s degree from the University of Alaska and a doctorate from the University of Wyoming.

Richard D. Alward of Grand Junction, reappointed
Alward will to serve as a member with formal training or substantial experience in soil conservation or reclamation, west of the Continental Divide, and as a Democrat. He is a principal ecologist and environmental scientist at Aridlands Natural Resource Consulting in Grand Junction and works as an adjunct instructor of environmental science at Mesa State College. He previously worked as an ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey – Biological Resources Division in Moab, Utah; as associated director at Cedar Point Biological Station at the University of Nebraska; and as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska. Alward earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a doctorate from Colorado State University.

The governor also appointed Mike King, Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources, and Dr. Chris Urbina, Executive Director of the Department of Public Health and Environment, to the commission.

A ninth member of the commission, Dolly Ann “DeAnn” Craig of Denver, serves as a member with substantial experience in the oil and gas industry and a college degree in petroleum geology or petroleum engineering and as a Republican. Her term expires July 1, 2012.

Source: CO WEB PORTAL



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