What a difference a year makes for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's annual meeting.
Last year, the state's oil and gas trade association held its annual meeting the day after several Front Range towns had voted to ban industry operations within their borders.
But this year, judges have struck down bans in three of the towns, and Gov. John Hickenlooper struck a deal to keep two measures off the fall election ballot that would have made it harder to operate in the state. The deal avoided a multimillion-dollar showdown between campaigns for and against industry operations in the state.
"The environment has shifted dramatically since 2013," said Tisha Schuller, the president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA).
"We've had an extraordinary year and momentum is on our side, the fracking wars have de-escalated a bit, but now we have to engage," she said.
Schuller touted the association's efforts to work with communities and local officials who what more information about the industry and how communities can work with the oil and gas companies.
"You'll never read about this in the paper, but it's the work that wins one heart, one mind, at a time," she said, citing COGA's involvement in open houses, town halls and community forums.
Schuller noted that the industry has undergone several rounds of rule-making in the last five years, including the establishment of new rules that broke new ground nationwide, such as Colorado's new mandate that oil and gas companies actively look for and fix equipment leaking methane and other emissions.
However, Schuller cautioned that more work it needed.
"We have adapted over the last year but we'll have to continue to adapt," she said.
"We'll need to spend more time listening and responding to the concerns of the citizens and the public," she added.
COGA's incoming chairman, Alan Harrison, the vice president of drilling operations for WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX), based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hailed the association's work reaching out to the public.
"It's important for the public to get fact-based information," Harrison said. "I believe in this organization and what we can accomplish. It's an exciting time to be in the industry."
Harrison succeeds Tom Sheffield as COGA's chairman. Sheffield is the Denver-based vice president, western division, for Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD), based in Irving, Texas.
