Caldara let GOP candidate make inaccurate claims regarding "radical environmentalists," energy development

Summary: On public television's Independent Thinking, host Jon Caldara failed to challenge Republican state Sen. Ted Harvey's inaccurate assertions that "radical environmentalists" have "pretty much stopped any domestic development of natural resources in Colorado and through the West" and are "not allowing us to drill here in the United States." In fact, state and federal statistics show that drilling permits and the number of new oil and natural gas wells are increasing steadily.

On the May 29 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking, while moderating a discussion among Republican candidates vying for Colorado's 6th Congressional District seat, host and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara uncritically allowed state Sen. Ted Harvey (R-Highlands Ranch) to assert that "the radical environmentalists ... have pretty much stopped any domestic development of natural resources here in the state of Colorado and through the West." In addition, during a webcast featuring extended coverage of the discussion posted on the Independence Institute's website, Harvey similarly claimed that "radical environmentalists are not allowing us to drill here in the United States." However, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's May 2008 Weekly & Monthly Oil & Gas Statistics report, the state's active oil and gas well count has increased nearly every month since January 2002. Additionally, a New York Times Magazine article published May 18 reported, "Colorado has experienced a sixfold increase in drilling permits since 1999, and the B.L.M. [federal Bureau of Land Management] has leased a New Jersey-size 5.2 million acres of federal land for new energy exploration in the state."

Moreover, the federal government's Energy Information Administration reports that the number of crude oil and natural gas development wells drilled in the United States in 2008 rose to 4,349 in April from 4,112 in January, while the number of exploratory wells drilled rose to 385 in April from 365 in January.

Also participating in the Independent Thinking discussion -- but not commenting on Harvey's remarks -- were the other three Republican candidates: Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman, businessman Wil Armstrong, and state Sen. Steve Ward.

From the May 29 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking:

HARVEY: You know, I've worked with [U.S. Rep.] Tom [Tancredo (R-CO)] for years on immigration reform in Colorado. Every bill that I've carried has been probably at the suggestion of Tom, and we've worked hand in hand together to try to change the debate here in Colorado on immigration reform. So on immigration, there won't be any light between our shoulders on immigration. But I think my background -- I have a master's in public administration with a concentration in environmental policy and law -- I think that Colorado needs to send a spokesperson to Washington, D.C., that will be a strong advocate not only on water policy that I've been championing down at the state legislature, but also on natural resource policy, whether it's oil and gas development to a natural, and coal development to fight what I call the radical environmentalists that have pretty much stopped any domestic development of natural resources here in the state of Colorado and through the West. And we need to have somebody that'll go out to Washington, D.C., and advocate, not only for Colorado but for the Western United States and for the citizens in the state of Colorado. When you see gas prices going over $4 a gallon, that's a huge issue. That's a tax increase for the citizens of the 6th Congressional District and for the United States, and we need to have somebody that'll go down there and fight hard against the radical environmentalists that are preventing us from developing our own domestic supplies here in the United States. So that's one thing I will champion when I go to Washington.

From the webcast of Channel 12 KBDI's Independent Thinking:

WARD: First of all, we're all in agreement. We've all been on record as opposing subsidies for corn-based ethanol fuels for cars. But let's also be clear, we are subsidizing with our tax dollars the current failed energy policy of the United States. Remember when we reflagged Kuwaiti tankers and put American flags on 'em? We have been subsidizing the current policy of buying more oil from the Arabs and from the Middle East for years, and there is a cost that is not internalized in the cost of a gallon of gasoline; and if it were, it would be substantially higher. So we are currently subsidizing our failed national energy policy. And I disagree with Wil; this is something that the government can work to solve. And, Ted, it's not a completely free market in oil, because OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] controls 40 percent of the supply --

HARVEY: And because the radical environmentalists are not allowing us to drill here in the United States.

[crosstalk]

HARVEY: If we got the radical environmentalists out of the way, we would have a free-market system here in Colorado and the United States.

WARD: For the last 30 years the, OPEC has dramatically impacted the price of oil --

HARVEY: So what would you say we should do to OPEC?

—C.H.