Raising the price of poker to drive away oil and gas. Support school choice. And, a door doesn't close without a window being opened.
If you make it hard enough to build, they won't come (they'll leave).
The article linked below is a perfect example, albeit a "loud" instead of "silent" one**, about how our state and our municipalities are making it hostile enough for oil and gas development that the companies choose not to try.
Civitas, according to the article, "one of the top five oil and gas producers in Colorado in 2022" folded and walked away from the table, leaving behind permits (from all the way back to 2018) on 32 wells near Boulder County after 5 years of legal battles with the county over the mineral rights the county held on open space land. This is a continuation/update to the "forced pooling" story I posted on a while back. See the second link below for some context if needed.
I gather, though it's not stated directly in the article and I wasn't able to find any information on it elsewhere, that Civitas is walking away from their Boulder holdings to focus their attention on a project near the Aurora reservoir.
Let's revisit the numbers above. It's now 2023. Admittedly, the permits to drill in Boulder changed hands a few times and that may have had a hand in this, but the permits were issued in 2018. 5 years back. Someone has been planning and/or trying to get oil out of there for 5 years and this is AFTER the permits were approved.
Not 100% sure on this, but I would not be surprised to find that Boulder fought the permit approval and then fought to prevent drilling on their lands this last 5 years.
And that's the point. When the retort by the people running this state to claims that it's harder and harder to get oil and gas out of the rich fields we have here is "well, permits are being approved according to the law", I want you to remember this.
Yes. They may be approved, though it's taking a while. They're also then fought every step of the way by other groups, and sometimes the price of poker is raised high enough to get the oil and gas companies to leave the table.
**loud in the sense that they are explicitly saying "I quit" as opposed to quietly folding up and leaving. Frankly, I wish oil and gas companies would make more of a public case about why they're leaving so that the general public would have a better handle on the cost of the regulations our state has.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/08/boulder-county-oil-gas-civitas-blue-paintbrush/
https://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/about/Help/Pooling%20Pamphlet.pdf
Despite the opposition, school choice (thankfully) remains a widely-held value in this state. Let's work to keep it that way.
The two links below (in order a chalkbeat story and an Independence Institute school profile) are thematically related enough that I thought I would share in the same post.
The Chalkbeat story is a follow up to earlier stories and a post here about DPS's decision to shut down one of their innovation schools (a sort-of quasi-charter school that is under DPS's umbrella of schools).
There is a bit of he said/she said here in the decision to close the Beacon Network schools and I do not know enough to wade in on who is right. I will leave it at this: from where I sit, there seem to be legitimate arguments to be made both ways. There are concerns about the financial health and oversight at the school, but there are only a certain number of proscribed reasons to shut down Innovation schools.
The upshot for this story is that the Beacon schools are suing to prevent DPS from taking away their innovation status.
The Independence Institute report details Merit Academy, a full on charter, in the Woodland Park District. It details the troubles that those trying to start Merit Academy faced, and eventually overcame.
The common thread here is the fight by parents and others to maintain school choice in Colorado. A fight carried on against those who (for a variety of reasons) do not like school choice.
I'm heartened to see it. Everyone is different and we do not all learn the same. We should (within reasonable bounds) have the option to seek what's best for our children.
That means watching for things that would limit school choice and speaking up for it, whether or not you have a child in a charter school, whether or not you choose to home school.
I will continue to post on this issue and if it's a passion for you, or if you are interested in learning more about school options, let me know. There are people/groups I can connect you to.
https://co.chalkbeat.org/2023/5/3/23710754/beacon-network-injunction-lawsuit-denver-innovation-schools-marrero
https://i2i.org/merit-academy-a-story-of-perseverance/
Closing a door and opening a window ...
Last one of the day, and you know what that means: something for fun and not related to politics.
It'll also be the last one for a day or so. I'll be away from my computer.
Have you ever heard the saying nature (God) doesn't close a door without opening a window? I was thinking about that when puttering around the garden the other day.
I had a couple apache plume plants that were doing great last year. They're a really pretty plant that, after blooming, puts out puffs where the flowers were. They're also quite water-wise. Once established, they need little in the way of watering (save for once a week during hot spells).
Well, only one of them survived this last brutal winter. To get a sense, take a look at screenshot 1. This is the healthy shrub fully out of dormancy. Screenshot 2 is the dead one (shown here after I dug it out). I kept watching and waiting on that second one and had to eventually give up. It wasn't dormant. It was plain dead.
**As a side note, this is the second apache plume that's died in that same location. Okay, I get it. I won't try again and have ordered a "mock orange" shrub to take its place.
I was saddened by this until I looked at the spot where the dead apache plume was and saw a tiny seedling. See screenshot #3. I potted it up and will give it some TLC until it's big enough for a permanent home.
Later that same day I went and checked in on the blueberries. They broke dormancy too and, I'm sad to say, I don't think I'll get a crop. The bushes will live. But blueberries fruit on last year's growth and that growth is dead. Winterkill it's called. See screenshot 4.
Damn. Well, I'll give them a good pruning, lots of food and sunshine to put on new growth for summer 2024 and try again (hoping this coming winter isn't so brutal).
Then, as with the apache seedling, a bit more good news, an open window. Take a look at screenshot 5. I don't know if you recall, but I posted about being doubtful as to whether the rosemary would be alive after winter. I think it is!
Hard to tell in the picture but there are some green needles coming out and the branches are still flexible (instead of snapping like dead twigs). Once I see where the growth is, I'll prune accordingly and say a thank you for small favors.
Just goes to show you, you never know. I'd make a remark about not giving up hope in this state if you're a conservative, but this isn't about politics so I'll leave it there.
Have a good Friday and see you again on Sunday!