Web Changes and Updates

May 1, 2003, Final draft done:Read Summary of Conclusions and Excerpts From: Rocky Mountain States Boom and Bust Energy Development Patterns, 1970-2000 under contract to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.. Conclusions from the final draft of the 75 page report are here. The report examines 30 years of boom and bust energy development in all 338 counties of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. A case-study section examines in great detail Campbell County, Wyoming, and Rio Blanco County, Colorado from 1970 to the present.

Some of the major conclusions of the study include that more energy-dependent regions in these states (1) tend to be smaller, and (2) have boom and bust impacts on population. (3) Coal-dependent counties had a higher unemployment rate throughout the study period compared with counties having a more diversified economic base, and (4) non-energy-dependent counties tended to have a broader economic base with a better-developed services sector as compared with more energy-dependent counties.

An examination of the case study counties, Campbell County, Wyoming, and Rio Blanco County, Colorado, exhibited clear indications that energy booms and busts had a significant impact on accurate economic and socioeconomic planning. During the early portions of energy booms, estimates of population, employment and other important indicators tended to be lower than what actually happened. Later estimates, conducted near or past the peak of energy booms, showed that estimates of population and employment tended to overestimate actual impacts. No estimates reviewed during the 30-year study period ever predicted population and employment losses and declines in per capita incomes--events that took place repeatedly during energy busts.

A final version of the study will be available soon.

May 16, 2002, Powder River Basin Coalbed Methane Financial Model (PRB-CBM-FM): Revision of presentation given to the University of Colorado's Natural Resources Law Center Coalbed Methane Conference, April 4-5, 2002.Examines the financial impacts of six different water disposal options.

May 15, 2002, Comments to the State of Wyoming BLM and the State of Montana BLM on Additional Powder River Basin Coalbed Methane Development.

May 8, 2002, Answers to questions submitted to Dr. W. Thomas Goerold by the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Resources, following the April 18, 2002 oversight hearing on "Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Methodology."

April 27, 2002, Sierra Club Energy Education Program presentation: (1) non-annotated Powerpoint presentation, (2) Reprint of report prepared for The Wilderness Society, Some Energy Fundamentals, new consulting report for The Wilderness Society, Sources of United States Oil Supply.

April 18, 2002. Added Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Resources, April 18, 2002 about Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Methodology. Attachments to House Testimony, originally prepared as consulting reports for The Wilderness Society: (1) Examination and Critique of ARI Report: Undiscovered Natural Gas and Petroleum Resources Beneath Inventoried Roadless and Special Designated Areas on Forest Service Lands Analysis and Results, with Additional Discussion of U.S. Geological Survey and National Petroleum Council Reports, and (2) A Brief Examination of the Adequacy of Future U.S. Natural Gas Infrastructure and Resources and The Role of Public Lands in U.S. Natural Gas Production.

April 4, 2002. Added Powder River Basin Coalbed Methane Financial Analysis, updated Energy Analysis of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.