Schuller, who took over as president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association in January, admits that her association’s top priority today is educating the public on the benefits of natural gas. That makes perfect sense in a state where she estimates 85 percent of Colorado’s oil and gas production is natural gas.

 

“It may be a little less than that now because there are a lot of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the Denver-Julesburg Basin,” she notes. “There is more activity in the D-J Basin right now because it is rich in liquids, so the economics are better.”

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, which has been in existence for 26 years, represents more than 350 companies in the state. Schuller acknowledges there was a time when battles over surface rights issues were the top priority for COGA. By building relationships with all the stakeholders from land owners to environmental groups and the oil and gas industry itself, however, she says that is no longer the number one issue facing the state association.

“Our big focus today is emphasizing outreach,” Schuller explains. “We are trying to help the public understand our industry, how it has evolved over the years, how it has reduced its footprint on the environment, and the importance of the oil and gas industry in our state. There is a big push for education.”

Tisha Schuller, president of COGA

In her speech about why everyone should love natural gas, Schuller points out that everyone in Colorado benefits from natural gas. It represents 6 percent of the state’s labor force, 7 percent of the state’s total economy and 90 percent of Colorado’s severance tax revenue. She also says the Colorado legislature recently passed landmark legislation that requires the Public Utilities Commission to evaluate switching the state’s coal-fired power plants to natural gas.

“That plan is to be filed August 15,” she adds. “That is driven by air quality, so everyone in the state has a stake in our industry. Natural gas, which burns so much cleaner, is popular now because of air quality.”
Because of that, Schuller states COGA is focused on increasing demand for natural gas by promoting the development of natural gas-fired generation and infrastructure for natural gas vehicles. “That will reduce air pollution and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” she emphasizes.

Part of COGA’s educational efforts is its annual Rocky Mountain Energy Epicenter Conference, held July 7-9 in Denver. Registrants in attendance included key executives from oil and gas companies, along with investment and commercial bankers from Wall Street and all of the nation’s financial centers. Other attendees included geologists, geophysicists, producers, pipeline professionals, policymakers, academic institutions and members of the media.

“Our conference focused on how the natural gas supply is changing and how that change is affecting Colorado,” Schuller says. “In addition, we highlighted the benefits of using natural gas in both the transportation and power sectors.”

Schuller, who notes that Colorado’s natural gas supply is in competition with the new shale gas plays around the country, says that the ability to move Colorado’s abundant natural gas supply to markets in other parts of the country has improved greatly in the last couple of years with the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline that runs from Wyoming to Ohio. That helped close the gap between the price natural gas producers get for gas in the Rockies and other regions of the country, according to Schuller.

She adds that the ability to move gas out of the state will also significantly improve with the opening of the new Ruby pipeline that is currently under construction. Ruby will move gas to the West Coast.

Doug Flanders, director of policy

Doug Flanders, director of policy for COGA, says the biggest obstacle to continued development of oil and gas resources in Colorado is an “antiquated perception of environmental impacts.”

“There is a need for a better working relationship with both agencies and stakeholders,” he adds. Schuller agrees, although she believes “people are becoming more aware of the benefits of the oil and gas industry. Most people think of the older oil and gas system,” she says. “This is an industry that significantly reduced its footprint.”

“We are concentrating on updating the perception of industry,” Flanders says. “We are reaching out to and working with non-traditional partners, demonstrating our diversity and passion. We are engaging our workforce from the grassroots level, all the employees and all the service companies.”

Not only does COGA have a speakers’ bureau available, but Schuller says COGA is making a big push to mobilize the industry on the local level with its industry ambassador series. COGA is also energizing the young people in the industry with the use of Twitter and Facebook.

“Folks who use these new social networks have not necessarily been supportive of what our industry is doing,” she explains. “We are engaging young people in our industry to point out why they like it and how natural gas can make a difference.”

Since this is an election year, Schuller says COGA is also putting an emphasis on candidate education, putting together a packet for the candidates touting the benefits of natural gas. “I haven’t met a candidate at any level in the state this year that is not supportive of natural gas,” she claims. “Natural gas is getting a wide range of support. That has been a political football in the past, but my job is to change that so our fortunes don’t change with who is in office.”

Schuller adds that COGA continues to work with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s new rules to reduce permitting times and improve efficiency of the process. New Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air regulations with reduced ozone standards are also a concern for her organization, according to Schuller, as COGA works to provide input on the state implementation of those air regulations.