I am a drilling engineer who grew up here in Southwestern Colorado and who works in the oil and gas industry.
I love what I do and find fulfillment in being part of an industry that provides energy and a resource vital to modern life.
This industry and the ability to work here has afforded my family and I a comfortable home, an education and savings for my daughter, and the ability to support our church and various charities.
Proposition 112 would end all that, not only for me, but for the approximately 147,000 others in Colorado like me.
Proposition 112 would effectively ban oil and gas development in Colorado by increasing the minimum setback for new wells from nearly two football fields (500 feet) for residences and three football fields (1,000 feet) for high occupancy structures, to more than eight football fields (2,500 feet).
The proposition also grants state and local governments the authority to impose even greater setbacks, without limitation.
Essentially, Proposition 112 is a ban on oil and gas development in Colorado.
If it is passed, it would eliminate a colossal amount of jobs and more than $1 billion in tax revenue. In 2015 and 2016, our industry provided $839 million in funding to K-12 education.
And over the past eight years, the industry has paid $615 million in severance taxes to help fund new parks and recreation centers, police and fire protection, and transportation projects.
Please vote NO on Proposition 112.
Matt Stiasny
Dove Creek
