Colorado's West Slope has a lot riding on a proposal now before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. For the third time -- after denying it twice -- the regulator is considering a project that would ship natural gas from the Rocky Mountain region to Asia, via an export terminal in Oregon. David Ludlam, head of the West Slope Colorado Oil & Gas Association, tells Colorado Matters he hopes the project will revive a mostly dormant industry in that part of the state and make Western Colorado a player in the growing global marketplace for natural gas.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, protests from homeowners and environmentalists have helped delay the project. Reporter Jes Burns of the public media news collaborative EarthFix tells Colorado Matters that concerns about eminent domain in areas where a new pipeline would need to be built have been most compelling to regulators thus far.
