Commentary

Coos Bay

Ask any economist and they can positively point to milestones where output soared, and economies took off.  They signal pivotal events in the history of global economics. It would be fair to even call them launching pads. But they don’t happen overnight, and change can be difficult to see at first.  

If Colorado Oil and Gas Bill is About Health and Safety, Why Not Wait for the State’s Health and Safety Report?

by Matt Dempsey, a managing director with FTI Consulting, wrote this piece when FTI supported the Western Wire program from 2017-2020.

Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment

Back in 2014, then-Congressman Jared Polis and then-Governor John Hickenlooper brokered a compromise that would lead to a blue-ribbon task force on oil and gas in Colorado. The panel came away with several recommendations, one being the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) conduct oil and gas health …

Editor’s Note

by AARON JOHNSON January 26, 2019

Two years ago, Western Energy Alliance launched the Western Wire news site. The purpose is to be a “go-to source for news, commentary and analysis on pro-growth, pro-development policies across the West” that gives voice to viewpoints from sources who feel the regulations and legislation from state and federal governments firsthand.   From the outset, we have been transparent and forthright about Western Wire’s pro-industry perspective, as can be seen in this recent Colorado Business Roundtable interview, and last August, when 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark said,“[W]e pointed to the Western Energy Alliance’s @WesternWireNet as a great example of how the industry can tell its own story with transparency.”

Thank you once again to all our readers in our second year here at Western Wire—a big year for stories across the West that continued to be shared, just as we wrote last year at this time, on social media and the halls of Congress, state legislatures, state and federal agencies, and most importantly, to the residents of the states in the West we cover on a day-to-day basis.

UCLA Professor’s Role in Climate Litigation Raises Transparency Questions

by Matt Dempsey, a managing director with FTI Consulting, wrote this piece when FTI supported the Western Wire program from 2017-2020.
Gavel

Photo credit: Shutterstock

UCLA law professor Ann Carlson is thankful for the role wealthy plaintiffs’ attorneys play in advancing climate change litigation across the country. She is also grateful for the significant funding her UCLA law clinic receives to focus on climate litigation efforts. But what’s not always clear is Carlson’s own position …

Western Wire

U.S. energy independence is within reach. Considered in the international context, U.S. energy independence means accelerated economic expansion and enhanced security for our country and its allies. But with that goal so near in sight, a proposition is being considered in the state of Colorado – a longtime vanguard in …

Bloomberg’s Invisible Legal Army Takes Shape

by Matt Dempsey, a managing director with FTI Consulting, wrote this piece when FTI supported the Western Wire program from 2017-2020.

An army of lawyers whose mission is to stop President Trump’s agenda are being embedded, sometimes very quietly, in state attorneys general (AG) offices across the country. These lawyers are bought and paid for by one of America’s most notable billionaires and political activists, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. …