Inside Politics: Poll Says Oil Not Mixing With Voters

In an election year when energy prices are as hot politically as the war in Iraq, it’s no surprise there are as many emails landing in reporters’ inboxes from environmental and industry groups as there are from McCain and Obama.

The same week the federal government began leasing land to be drilled for natural gas on the Roan Plateau, a Colorado environmental group released a poll saying the majority of Coloradans have little love for the oil and gas industry.

The poll, conducted by RBI Strategies and Research in conjunction with the Colorado Environmental Coalition, found 60 percent of respondents described their feelings toward the oil and gas industry as “unfavorable or very unfavorable.”

Rick Ridder, president and co-founder of RBI Strategies and Research, said his poll found 70 percent of those polled, including 83 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of unaffiliated voters and 54 percent of Republicans, favor responsible drilling over rapid development.

“Furthermore, despite an ailing economy, Colorado voters feel the oil and gas industry should not be putting public health at risk,” he said.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry cheered the planned sale of leases to get more of those supplies. The federal government was set to begin leasing on Thursday small portions of public lands on the Western Slope’s Roan Plateau.

Congress directed the Bureau of Land Management in 1997 to lease portions of the Roan’s Naval Oil Shale Reserves for natural gas development. But state and federal lawmakers disputed the leases and where they would be located. The BLM was about to announce a management plan for the Roan shortly after Gov. Bill Ritter took office, but he asked for an extension.

In June, the BLM announced plans to offer leases on more than 55,000 acres of land on the picturesque plateau, a haven for hunters and environmentalists. Ritter and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, among others, fought for more phased leasing and Ritter filed a formal protest on behalf of the state.

The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, an industry group, said the BLM’s plan is the most restrictive on any public lands. The group said the reserves are thought to hold 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough energy to serve 3.6 million households for the next 20 years.

“Tapping this vast supply of clean, domestic energy is good news for American families who are beginning to question the government’s resolve in meeting our nation’s energy needs,” said Marc Smith, IPAMS’ executive director, in a statement.

Lease bonuses and associated severance taxes are expected to provide a windfall up to $1 billion for Colorado, although the state’s protest—along with 17,000 others, according to the Web site Save Roan Plateau—will have to be resolved before the state sees a single red cent.

Smith said it’s time the government get rolling.

“Our energy future starts today and it’s time government provides the American people with the energy they own and have a right to,” he said.

Vice President in Colorado for Musgrave

Democrats cheered the news Wednesday that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Colorado to raise money for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, the Republican from Fort Morgan, who is in a fight for her political life in the 4th Congressional District.

Musgrave’s opponent, Betsy Markey, made hay of the much-maligned veep’s visit in a fundraising email, exhorting supporters to counter the money Cheney would raise.

“A single event with Dick Cheney will bring thousands of dollars into Marilyn Musgrave’s campaign. Dollars that will most certainly be used to distort and attack both my record and positions on the issues in ways that may very well make Karl Rove blush. Dollars that will go towards making certain that the corrupt, status quo that has been present in Washington is maintained and strengthened,” Markey wrote.

Her campaign spokesman, Ben Marter, said Musgrave was forgetting her constituents.

“Betsy has been talking to small-business owners, all over the district, canvassing and going door to door chatting with people. And Marilyn is having a fundraiser with Dick Cheney,” he said. “The bigger question is, has she forgotten her constituents?”

Musgrave’s campaign spokesman, Jason Thielman, noted several instances this year wherein Musgrave has parted with the Bush administration, including on the Farm Bill, water infrastructure projects and veterans’ issues.

“Marilyn is an independent voice for the 4th District of Colorado. She has always walked the line that best serves the needs and concerns of people back home,” he said.

Asked what, then, Cheney was doing for Musgrave at a private residence in Littleton, Thielman said he had to refer questions about the trip to the vice president’s press office.

For their parts, the Colorado Democratic Party and ProgressNow Action highlighted the fact that taxpayers funded the trip, because Cheney traveled via Air Force Two.

Cheney is hardly the biggest boldface-name Republican to campaign for Musgrave. In 2004 and 2006, President Bush came to Greeley to campaign for her.

Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer, a longtime political observer, said the visit would help Musgrave in terms of money, but little else.

“The negaive side of it is that Cheney, along with the president, has, over the years, accumulated a good amount of negative politiical baggage,” he said.

It’s no surprise, then, that the event wasn’t held in Northern Colorado and was private so no one could take pictures of them together.

That doesn’t mean Democrats won’t keep talking about it, however.