Other local voices come to Washington

April 11, 2008
When several Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States members came to Washington for their annual "call-up" visits to Congress and regulators in early April, other business leaders from their communities came along.

When several Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States members came to Washington for their annual "call-up" visits to Congress and regulators in early April, other business leaders from their communities came along.

They provided an important counterpoint to groups which are trying to stop or slow federal leasing on the Roan Plateau in Colorado and elsewhere. Many are officers in their local Chambers of Commerce. IPAMS welcomed them to help describe collaborations ranging from community relations to workforce needs, according to Marc W. Smith, the group's executive director.

"We wondered why none of these groups had come forward. No one had ever asked them," explained Susan Avillar, a Williams Cos. community affairs representative from Parachute, Colo.

"The companies which are operating where I live and work have tried to reach out to people," she told me. Two weeks after the Washington visits, wildlife managers from five states were scheduled to meet in Grand Junction. Avillar said that Williams and EnCana USA, which also is active in the area, planned to show their operations to the government officials.

Sharing complaints

The effort doesn't stop with state and local governments. "We have a program with other companies where we share complaints. There's a real spirit of trying to work together and be good neighbors," Avillar said.

Other efforts range from underwriting an area-wide mule deer population study to forming an energy advisory board with Garfield County residents and government officials to discuss issues. "It's a way for citizens to voice their concerns, which can be different from one side of the county to the other," she said.

Contractors are involved too. In one area, they joined operators in "Community Counts," a pilot program where they meet regularly with local officials and employees to avoid moving a rig when a school bus is on the road, or to help notify residents that a fracturing program could raise excess dust.

"In Garfield County, an operators' group meets monthly to discuss common issues. This time of year, they involve mud and dust," Avillar said. When one surface landowner in a split-estate situation complained about dust, Williams sent a water truck out immediately, she added.

Pristine? Untouched?

Such efforts are crucial as opponents characterize the Roan Plateau as pristine and untouched when oil and gas activity has been taking place there for years. Williams has been there on private leases since the late 1980s, currently has 24 wells on the Roan and plans to drill 28 more in 2008, Avillar said.

Smith said that IPAMS is following examples of politicians ranging from US President George W. Bush to Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming's Democratic governor, who bring groups with common interests together.

"I'm loading my calendar with tours," Avillar said, noting that during 2007 she and her counterpart at EnCana showed 850 people their companies' operations including some "gifted and talented" fifth graders who asked awkward but interesting questions.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]