Dan Haley led the Colorado Oil and Gas Association through a seismic shift in how the state regulates the industry, navigating through more than 30 different proceedings on new rules that companies must follow. His next task: help find his successor.
Haley is stepping down as CEO and president of the trade association after nine years, but not before he helps the board of directors find someone to take charge. He said he’s trying to figure out his next career step, but figures it will involve his love of public policy, communications and politics.
Those passions aligned with his 13 years at The Denver Post, the last four of which he served as editorial page editor, as well as his position as director of corporate communications at CoBank.
“Right now, my commitment to the board is to work to help them hire new leadership. That will likely be the end of the year, early next year,” Haley said.
As for why he decided to leave COGA, Haley said it feels like the right time for new leadership and “fresh eyes to come in and help chart a path forward.”
For more than half of his tenure at COGA, Haley has spent a lot of time advocating for his members as the state overhauled the way oil and gas is regulated in Colorado, one of the country’s top oil and gas producers. A 2019 law, Senate Bill 181, mandated the revision of a raft of rules: from the permitting of wells to regulating underground lines to reducing emissions from well sites.
The mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, renamed the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, was revamped. The law directed the commission, the main regulatory body for the industry, to prioritize protecting public health and safety and the environment when considering oil and gas projects. The law opened more of the process to the public and authorized local governments to write some of their own oil and gas rules.
The number of hearings on new rules has “really ramped up” after approval of Senate Bill 181, Haley said. The hearings, called rulemakings, can take several days to several weeks or even months. The public hearings include testimony from different parties and input from agency staff and the public.
The issues facing the oil and gas industry have evolved since Haley joined COGA. About 200 companies are COGA members, representing more than 90% of the oil and natural gas production in Colorado.
“When I first started in 2015, a lot of the issues the state was dealing with were noise issues and more of what I would say were nuisance issues,” Haley said. “The industry did a really good job of responding to those things using technology and innovation, things like sound walls and quiet fracking fleets.”
Concerns and conflicts grew as drilling picked up in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, a mineral-rich area north and east of Denver that extends into Wyoming. Drilling increased in towns and neighborhoods and communities expanded closer to oil and gas sites.
The Colorado General Assembly and the governor’s office started setting goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change and air quality and to boost the use of renewable energy.
“The last couple years you’ve got a pretty aggressive legislature passing bills, laws requiring state regulatory agencies to do certain rulemakings,” Haley said.
“He came to the table”
The oil and gas industry and its supporters opposed Senate Bill 181, signed by Gov. Jared Polis in April 2019. At the time, Haley said the governor’s goal of ending the oil and gas wars would mean “removing politics from the technical process of providing energy to Coloradans.”
Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Democrat from Boulder and a prime sponsor of SB181, said Haley and his members were willing to “come to the table.”
“I think Dan had a pretty good sense of the political realities of Colorado and how it’s evolved, and I think that’s really helpful for an organization like COGA, rather than putting your head in the sand and pretending like the reality is something different,” Fenberg said.
Haley and COGA members were always part of the conversation at the legislature and during rulemaking, Fenberg added. “Did they advocate for the position that I would? No. But they have a role to play.”
Fenberg said the industry was willing to provide technical assistance or feedback when lawmakers needed to understand on-the-ground situations. He appreciated Haley’s approach and “how he came to the table and always wanted to have open communication.”
Chris Wright, founder and CEO of Colorado-based Liberty Energy, which provides hydraulic fracturing and other services, said Haley has been the industry’s “tip of the spear” during all the changes mandated by Senate Bill 181. Wright called the regulation overhaul “emotional political point-scoring” that has frustrated people in the business.
“Dan is a strong, charismatic, principled leader,” Wright said. “I’m very happy he didn’t throw the towel in years ago.”
An ongoing challenge for the oil and gas industry and other sectors is improving the air quality along the Front Range. The area, which encompasses the epicenter of oil and gas operations in northeastern Colorado, is out of compliance with federal air quality standards for ozone pollution.
Ground-level ozone pollution forms on hot days when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides react in the sunlight. The sources of those include emissions from oil and gas wells and refineries, automobiles, gas-powered lawn and garden equipment and fumes from paint and other industrial chemicals.
Haley believes the more stringent federal standard for ozone of an average 70 parts per billion will be difficult to achieve in Colorado. “That is an economy-wide effort to achieve that standard.”
The oil and gas industry has greatly reduced its emissions overall, Haley said, as a result of regulations and technology. Colorado oil and gas operators expect to meet or exceed the state requirement of cutting nitrogen oxide emissions 30% by 2025.
Reducing nitrogen oxide levels by 50% by 2030 will be tougher, Haley said. “But we have the best and brightest in the industry working on that right now.”
While the state, communities and utilities across Colorado are planning for a transition away from fossil fuels, Haley believes oil and gas will be needed for the foreseeable future.
“So it’s incumbent upon our industry, especially here in Colorado, to produce the resource cleaner, better and safer than anywhere on the planet,” Haley said.
Haley said the oil and gas industry is still a vital part of Colorado’s economy. He said the industry paid roughly $2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, with $400 million-plus going to schools and $700 million to police departments, parks and recreations and other services.
“And this is still an industry where you can have a high school diploma and get a good job, buy a home and raise your family here in Colorado,” Haley said. “We should really value these jobs.”
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