The fruits of austerity: Oil drilling in state parks

Think about spending time in a state park, and what images come to mind? Camping under the stars, perhaps. Or maybe fishing on a pristine, mirror-flat lake at dawn. Whatever you imagine, an oil rig probably isn’t part of the picture.

But oil drilling is what more and more US citizens might soon be finding during their back-to-nature getaways.

Faced with steep cuts in government funding, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission this week gave its director the go-ahead to negotiate a surface use agreement and lease with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The deal would allow Anadarko to drill multiple horizontal wells from one pad in the 688-acre St. Vrain State Park.

According to a report in the Denver Business Journal, granting drilling rights to Anadarko is aimed at raising revenues to make up for steep cuts in state government funding. General fund support for state parks has dropped from $7.1 million in 2009 to zero, the journal reported.

Ohio legislators last summer also approved oil and gas drilling in state parks, and created a new commission to oversee the leasing process across the state.