Photo via: Crestone Peak Resources
In their 5-minute-long video, these anti-oil and gas activists plead with Canadians that Crestone is polluting the environment and harming the people of Colorado. This is typical misleading anti-oil and gas rhetoric that has been prevalent in hundreds of campaigns, even though the data and facts show a different story.
Interestingly, all except for one or two of the persons appearing in this video is either employed by 350 Colorado or on its Board of Directors. 350 Colorado is part of the 350.org network that was recently called out by Michael Moore in his Planet of the Humans documentary for lying about green energy. It is also worth noting that 350.org receives frequent funding from organizations like the Tides Foundation to run anti-oil and gas campaigns.
Ironically, despite claims by these activists that Crestone Peak Resources is destroying the environment, they were just named a 2020 Gold Leader for environmental leadership by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Their profile on the Department of Health and Environment’s website states that Crestone has taken such initiatives as eliminating nearly 42,000 tanker trucks from local roads since 2017 from their collection and processing facility. They’ve also implemented vapor recovery units that capture low pressure gas and switched to electric drilling to reduce emissions.
Crestone is the first energy company in Colorado to have a full-time well-site air quality monitoring system that detects air pollution and emissions through all phases of development. Alongside Crestone’s applauded environmental performance, this study from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment concluded that all measured air concentrations during Crestone’s oil and gas operations were well below the short- and long-term safety thresholds. Contrary to the claims of these activists, the negative health impacts of oil and production in the region do not stack up to the evidence.
Even as anti-oil and gas activists lie and tear down the oil and gas industry, in the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board they have to be happy with their 95% stake in Crestone, since it has the potential to be profitable while demonstrating world class ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards
Canadians should be far from ashamed for being the majority owners of a company that is taking a leading effort in addressing environmental issues while still providing reliable energy.
The world faces a global energy challenge of providing sustainable energy for a population that is growing by another 2 billion people in the next 30 years. Most of this growth will appear in the poorer parts of the world even while populations flatten and then decline in the richer OECD countries.
Allowing the poor of the world to access cleaner energy is a good thing. Nothing protects the environment more than affluence. The very poor can’t afford to worry about the environment, but every step up in wealth allows them to think more about protecting landscapes and biodiversity.
Even though Crestone operates in Denver, the benefits of providing reliable energy, and keeping its environmental impacts low is something Canadians should be proud of.
Canadians should not be ashamed of Crestone, and they should not let foreign activists tell them they are ruining the environment. It is simply not true.
