Colorado Governor Pushing Natural Gas DENVER AND RIFLE, CO (KUNC) - Governor Bill Ritter has long championed wind and solar power. But lately he's also been touting natural gas as a clean burning fuel, as he did recently at the University of Colorado's Center for Energy and Environmental Security.

The democrat called the energy source "mission critical" fuel for the new energy economy.

"If our energy portfolio utilizes renewable to their maximize usage point and has as a base load fuel natural gas. I see it as a big part of our going forward and addressing the reduction in green house gas emissions," Ritter said.

"There's a lot of immediate benefit to a natural gas conversion," he added to a crowd of students and faculty.

A Changing Tune?

The governor has taken this message to voters and energy executives alike in recent months. But some say it's too little too late.

"He pushes a new energy economy that has to be founded on natural gas. So he's technically expanded the market or demand for natural gas," says John Harpole, president of Mercator Energy, a natural gas brokerage company in Denver.

"But at the same time (he's) promulgated rules that limit the availability of that gas," adds Harpole.

Harpole is referring to new regulations backed by Ritter that place additional environmental and health restrictions on oil and gas companies before they can drill. The energy industry has blasted them, saying they've made it too expensive to do business.

So has Senate Minority leader Josh Penry, especially after entering the gubernatorial race to challenge Ritter next year

"He's done nothing at all to reverse the policies that he's put in place that have chased away investment in industries like natural gas," Penry says, "So for me it's kind of hallow lip service, an election year conversion."

But Ritter stands by the rules, which were considerably revised from their original version after loud opposition from Republicans and the industry.

"Whether it's about air quality or water quality, or even to protect wildlife as a resource. Some people heard that and heard it as an anti industry statement, and it wasn't at all," the democrat says.

Ritter also stands by his efforts to boost natural gas in the state and the West.

"The way I see it is as this important commodity that we have access to in America that can help us with energy security," he says.

Energy and Politics

Energy and the state's economy is a theme voters can expect to hear a lot more of in the months ahead, whether it's from Ritter, Penry or fellow Republican Scott McGinnis who's also vying for the Governor's seat.

"You have to be environmentally sensitive and you've got to be economically sensitive," says John Straayer, a political scientist at Colorado State University.

Straayer thinks Ritter is in a tough position given the economic downturn.

"The closer we get to an election the more sensitive the Governor and all of his challengers will be," he adds.

From Boom to Bust

Colorado is one of the largest natural gas producers in the country, with thousands of wells statewide. But in recent months rig counts have fallen to their lowest levels since 2004. Nowhere is the slow down more apparent than in Garfield County in western Colorado. Governor Ritter campaigned heavily here in 2006, calling for tougher environmental regulations on the booming oil and gas industry.

Back then the economy was good.

Along Airport Road, in the boom and bust town of Rifle, several new hotels were built to house all the transient gas workers.

"It was hard to find a room, so you would have to book a room at least within two weeks or a month ahead," says Liliana Loya, a front desk clerk at the Hampton Inn, which just opened this summer.

That's no longer the case. Today the hotel is all but deserted, the party's over.

"It's scary because people need their jobs and it's just difficult to find one out there," Loya says, "Let's just hope it gets busy like it used to be last year."

Since last year, natural gas prices have plummeted. And there's too much of it on the market. That's caused some companies to leave Colorado for states like Pennsylvania and Louisiana, where there's greater pipeline capacity and major markets are much closer.

"18 months ago, we had 110 different oil rigs working, we had unemployment of 2 percent or less, there were three jobs for every person," says Garfield County Commissioner John Martin, a republican.

"Today there are 12 rigs, rising unemployment, and a record number of home foreclosures," Martin says, in an interview at his office in Glenwood Springs.

He squarely points the finger at the new tougher rules ushered through by Governor Ritter.

"Energy is gone," Martin says, "They were told this is not a friendly environment anymore in Colorado, you can find some place else, and they did, they left."

But not all the conflicts have left, namely those between landowners and gas companies that spurred the new rules.

Clashes with Landowners Remain

Dave Devanney moved from Arvada on the Front Range to Battlement Mesa to retire a few years ago. Developers tried to lure retirees here after the oil shale bust in the 1980s. But today, instead of playing golf, Devanney is fighting a gas company's proposal to install 200 wells within the town's boundaries.

Devanney says he supports natural gas and its potential role in the clean energy economy. "But we don't want our lives and lifestyles to be sacrificed in the process," he quickly adds.

Devanney thinks the governor's new rules are a good first step, but they don't go far enough.

"And if he were to back off of that support, I would be very disappointed," he says.

Governor Ritter has said adamantly he has no plans to do that. Still, some environmentalists are worried that a tough re-election year in a down economy will pressure him and other western democrats to give in.

Environmentalists Fear Backpedal

Frank Smith's dusty old Subaru stands out among the big rigs and diesel trucks of Garfield County. Smith is with the Grand Junction-based Western Colorado Congress. He's worried, "that we're going to take some major steps backwards, during this moment of economic uncertainty, all for short term economic gains.

But the politics playing out in Denver, or next year's governor's race, don't seem to be on the minds of most residents here.

Outside the Sports Corner Saloon in Rifle, waitress Angie Ellsworth isn't thinking about who's to blame for the economic woes hitting the county. She just hopes the workers will come back soon.

"I work for tips so yeah," she laughs. © Copyright 2009, KUNC