Part two of a series responding to a Denver Post guest column titled “Is Colorado addicted to oil?” from Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action.

Gary Wockner’s editorial is long on conjecture and short on facts. It’s little more than 20 questions, which could be answered if Wockner bothered to do a modicum of research. I answered his headline, “Is Colorado addicted to oil?” in my first post. Now I’ll address his next questions about the “role” of the oil and gas industry in Colorado’s economy.  Wockner begins:

A few years ago, President George W. Bush stood in front of Congress in a nationally televised speech and said that “America is addicted to oil.” And then he spoke about how we must end that addiction for the good of our economy, our environment, our national security, and our future. Recently, after another huge oil field was discovered in Weld County, Gov. John Hickenlooper was quoted in The Denver Post as saying, ‘Anadarko’s announcement today shows once again that Colorado is a leader in the energy sector of our country’s economy. We are thrilled to see the company plan a significant investment in Colorado.’

Addicted or thrilled? Which is it?

Obviously Wockner isn’t thrilled, which is the whole point of his demogoguing.  Yet, it isn’t unreasonable for Coloradans including Governor Hickenlooper to be thrilled about Anadarko’s announcement because we, our economy and way of life, are reliant upon petroleum.  As I wrote in my first response, Colorado like any other culture not living in the 13th century needs to have petroleum. Until we find some type of cost effective alternative, petroleum is it. Personally, I am thrilled, but I can’t speak every other Coloradans so I won’t try.

Wockner continues:

Obviously, these are two very conflicting views of the role oil should play in our economy and our future, and they raise honest questions the public needs to address: What is the actual role that oil and gas plays in our economy? Where do all the billions of dollars go?

Wockner and his Clean Water Action are opposed to fossil fuels so they are the ones in a state of conflict, which makes me wonder if Wockner is opposed to economic activity. In our economy, private companies provide goods and services that consumers want who voluntarily exchange some form of currency for products, which benefits both groups as business profits by meeting consumers’ wants and needs. Producers can earn a profit, and consumers obtain the goods and services they want. So the role of oil and gas is to provides goods and services that consumers want. The oil and gas industry then returns some of that profit to communities in the form of capital investment, charitable contributions, dividends to shareholders or anything else a private company wants. It’s not up to Wockner and his ilk to decide how the oil and gas industry spends its profits.

In Colorado, the oil and gas industry is a major economic player. Besides using fossil fuels to heat our homes (it’s -8 degrees right now), power our cars, produce precious solar panels, and make thousands of items we use every single day, here are a few facts about the economic impact of oil and gas in Colorado according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA):

The OIL & GAS industry in Colorado directly employs 50,000 people and supports over 190,000 jobs in the state and provides $12.4 billion in total labor income and $24 billion in value added economic output annually; this is 9.3% of the total in the state.

The NATURAL GAS industry in Colorado directly employs 30,000 people and supports over 137,000 jobs in the state and $8.4 billion in total labor income and $18.4 billion in value added economic output annually; this is 7.3% of the total in the state.

Our industry is responsible for roughly 6% of total employment in Colorado.

Only the cities of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder have more jobs than the State’s oil and natural gas industry.

In Colorado, more than 75 percent of residential homes use natural gas as their primary energy source for home heating, one of the highest shares in the nation.3

Colorado had more than 40,000 oil & gas wells in production.

Ten of the Nation’s 100 largest natural gas fields and three of its 100 largest oil fields are found in Colorado.

Colorado produces 1/4 of all coalbed methane in the U.S.

Severance tax is levied on extraction of metals, coal, oil and gas and is part of TABOR revenue base. Oil and gas pay over 90% of the state’s severance tax.

The total assessed values for taxable Oil and Gas property in 2010 was $6.25 billion or 5.63% of the state total

Yesterday I spent an hour talking with John Christiansen and Brian Cain of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation on my radio show. Anadarko is one of the world’s largest independent natural gas and oil exploration and production companies in the world. It had total sales revenue of just under $11 billion for 2010 according to its most recent annual financial report.

Anadarko, its employees, and the community were celebrating the ribbon cutting on their newly expanded field office in Evans, Colorado. It’s an unassuming but comfortable 46,000 square foot build out paid for by Anadarko. It’s efficient with video conferencing to save the company time and money and a modest kitchen for employees who don’t want to leave for lunch. No taxpayer-guaranteed loan here (think Solyndra) so no 300,000 square feet of “the Taj Mahal”, no spa showers with liquid-crystal water temperature displays, no conference rooms with glass walls that change from clear to smokey with the touch of a button, no robots whistling Disney tunes. When I asked why Anadarko’s new building didn’t have a spa, the response was simple, “it’s not necessary.”

Globally, Anadarko employs roughly 4,400 an increase of 10 percent since 2007 after a decline from 2006.

In Colorado, Andarako employs roughly 260 people out of Evans field office, another 100 in Brighton and couple hundred more in Denver office. The average salary is between $70,000 and $80,000. And unlike Abound Solar, Cain and Christiansen told me that Anadarko is hiring.

Because of the recent discovery of up to 1.5 billion BOE in the Wattenberg Field, Anadarko expects to invest $1 billion in Weld County alone in 2012. County Commissioner Sean Conway says the additional oil and gas activity could mean as much as $50 million in additional revenue to county coffers. This is all direct investment. The ripple effect of this economic activity will be profoundly positive for Colorado and Weld County.

Also, giving back to the community part of the mission of the oil and gas industry, which certainly shows in Weld County. At the ribbon cutting yesterday, Anadarko handed a check for $25,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Weld County. A combination of several oil and gas companies, including Anadarko, Noble, Encana, Halliburton, and others, have provided $250,000 for the Weld Food Bank. By contrast, Abound, which has its manufacturing plant in Weld County, has received a $400 million taxpayer guaranteed loan from the DOE, and tax credits from Weld County, is not a contributor to the food bank. Vestas Blades, also with manufacturing in Weld County, has given a one time donation of $750.

But where the money goes should be irrelevant because a private company can do what it wants with its money. However, if Anadarko or any other oil and gas company mismanages its profits, can’t remain competitive, or can’t provide goods, services people want then it will go out of business (unless it gets a DOE loan). And it should.

Perhaps Colorado is “addicted” to oil because we are “addicted” to a modern lifestyle and economic activity. We’re also addicted to water and oxygen. Nothing wrong with that.

Next, I’ll address Wockner’s gratuitous attacks on Weld County and Greeley.

For fun, which of these was paid for with a taxpayer-guaranteed loan?

Lavish offices.

Evans Office