Climbing Mountains

​As a Coloradan, it has been heartening to watch essential employees stepping up across the state during this difficult time. Nurses, doctors, and hospital support staff are literally risking their lives to save others. To those men and women, thank you doesn’t seem to be enough.

​Governor Jared Polis has said repeatedly that we must face this global health crisis and economic collapse together, and that we are stronger together. He’s right. While most of us are working from home, holding Zoom conference calls and sending countless emails, to help “flatten the curve,” many of our friends and neighbors -- first responders, National Guardsmen, media, energy workers, grocery store clerks -- are keeping the rest of our society afloat.

Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry is proud of the critical field employees who continue to work across our great state to keep power flowing to our homes, grocery stores, and hospitals, but also to provide the raw materials that make up countless medical products, from basic items such as face masks and gloves to hospital beds and lifesaving ventilators. We are one cog in an elaborate and complicated machine that keeps our world functioning in this time of crisis.

We are blessed in Colorado to have an abundance of local resources that keep energy prices low year-round, but especially during these difficult times. That includes the wind and sun that power renewables, as well as the oil and natural gas beneath our feet. Can you imagine being asked to stay at home without having the necessary energy to power your laptop, heat your home or keep the lights on? We’re fortunate to have many talented energy workers who call Colorado home, and they’re working to make sure our communities come out of this stronger than before.

​We are in this as Coloradans, as a country, as a people, and there are deep and profound ties that bind us together in times of crisis. Once we move past this pandemic and begin to recover, I hope we can maintain those bonds.

We have a long trail ahead, and it will take all of us to recover. It will take us being more thoughtful, more encouraging, and more patient as we climb together.

Instead of being small, let's think big.

​We are the state of Pikes Peak and Longs Peak, of Snowmass, San Luis, and Mount Massive. Climbing mountains is in our DNA. And when you’re climbing, you’re pushing yourself but you’re also helping those who struggle along the trail.

Like many other industries, Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry is going through tough times, as well, but we will stand ready to help power the state out of this economic crisis, and to provide the energy we all need and deserve.

As we work our way back to normal in the coming months, we commit to being even better. Let’s all be better. Let’s make sure when we look back across the ground we’ve covered that our new normal is elevated above our past, and that we stand there together, stronger than ever.  ​

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