17 Dec Community Members Testify at Task Force Meeting

December 17, 2014 –

On December 10th, nine local residents carpooled with CHC to Rifle for the meeting of the Governor’s Oil & Gas Task Force.  The meeting drew a crowd of 300 to 400, many of them contractors and supporters of the oil and gas industry as well as many concerned residents.

Nearly all of our folks got to speak during the public comment period.  Thank you to everyone who made the trip over and to the many of you who submitted public comments to the Task Force.  Here’s a brief re-cap of what some of our members had to say.

CHC’s Board Chair John VanDenBerg speaks to the Governor’s Oil & Gas Task Force in Rifle. Click the image above to read an article about the meeting from the Glenwood Post Independent.

CHC’s Board Chair John VanDenBerg asked how many members of the task force had been to the North Fork and spoke about the need to protect our water supplies from being contaminated.  John was quoted in the Glenwood Post Independent saying:  “Our economy is based on clean irrigation water, and without it we have a desert. Hundreds of jobs in our valley can’t be supplanted by oil and gas drilling.”  Click here to read the article.

CHC volunteer board member Kim Schultz, and CHC members Brenda Joyce Coda, Ron Singleton, and Tom Stevens also addressed the Task Force.  Kim spoke about the need to protect vulnerable populations–such as pregnant women and young children–from pollution from drilling and fracking, and Brenda Joyce spoke of the need to recognize that some places, like the North Fork Valley, are simply inappropriate for oil and gas drilling.

CHC member Tom Stevens tells the
Task Force about his experience living
amid the drilling boom in Weld County.

In addition, CHC member Jane Reed sent a letter to the editor that was published in the Aspen Times, telling her story of living in Garfield County when drilling moved in.  Click here to read Jane’s letter.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to submit your public comment, it’s not too late!  You can click here to submit a comment through an action alert from our conservation partners at the Sierra Club, or you can send an email directly to the Task Force members at ogtaskforce@state.co.us (make sure to copy us on your letter at citizenshealthycommunity@gmail.com).

The Task Force must make its recommendations to Gov. Hickenlooper by Feb. 27th, so make sure to get your comments to them sooner than later!  For more information about the Task Force, click here to go to their web site.