ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN : Agencies should keep hands out of AGFC’s pocket

“Big energy” isn’t the greatest threat to fish and wildlife in Arkansas. Big government is.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission announced Monday that Chesapeake Energy was going to drop some serious coin — $ 30 million up front, plus a 20 percent royalty — to extract natural gas from Gulf Mountain and Petit Jean WMAs.

Freddie Black, AGFC chairman, said the commission would use that money to create more hunting and fishing opportunities for Arkansas sportsmen by buying more land or securing permanent conservation easements on private land.

Gov. Mike Beebe showed up to the news conference with a platoon of directors from other state agencies and strongly suggested the commission should share the money with its less prosperous cousins. He said several times, emphatically, that the oil and gas revenue from these public lands belongs to all of the people in our state, and that the AGFC should assist other agencies involved with supervising the natural gas industry.

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Groups voice support for Colo. oil, gas rules

Judith Kohler
Associated Press
Vail, CO Colorado

DENVER, Colorado — In the ongoing debate over sweeping new oil and gas regulations, about 70 conservation groups and outdoors businesses are running newspaper ads backing a Colorado law that mandated some of the changes.

An ad printed in Denver and Grand Junction newspapers Friday thanked Gov. Bill Ritter for supporting the Colorado Wildlife Stewardship Act law passed unanimously by the Legislature last year.

The ad acknowledges the oil and gas industry’s importance, but adds that “drilling must not jeopardize what makes Colorado such a remarkable place to live.”

Radio and newspapers ads by two trade groups in June warned that the rules would threaten the oil and gas industry. The campaign by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association singled out proposals intended to protect wildlife, saying the regulations would shut down drilling several months out of the year and throw thousands of people out of work.

Groups voice support for Colo. oil, gas rules