{"id":53953,"date":"2026-03-27T23:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T23:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forums-for-progress-panel-to-examine-energy-issues-in-southwest-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:43:35","slug":"forums-for-progress-panel-to-examine-energy-issues-in-southwest-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forums-for-progress-panel-to-examine-energy-issues-in-southwest-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Forums for Progress\u2019 panel to examine energy issues in Southwest Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A natural gas well is seen Thursday in La Plata County. The gas\/oil industry protested the way La Plata County officials took on adopting new gas and oil regulations last year. Now operators are struggling as they work to comply with the new rules. (Jerry McBride\/ Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Residents are invited to a panel discussion<\/a> hosted by the Durango Chamber of Commerce next weekaimed at fostering dialogue on local energy issues.<\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cForums for Progress \u2013 Panel on Energy in Southwest Colorado,\u201d will be held 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Durango Public Library and is free to the public. Lunch will be available for purchase.<\/p>\n

Speakers will include Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission Chair Jeff Robbins, Merrion Oil & Gas Investment Manager George Sharpe, La Plata Electric Association CEO Chris Hansen and Entrada Energy COO Kyle Kerr.<\/p>\n

\"Speakers
Speakers at an April energy forum held by the Durango Chamber of Commerce will include, from top left going clockwise: Energy & Carbon Management Commission Chair Jeff Robbins, Entrada Energy COO Kyle Kerr, Merrion Oil & Gas Investment Manager George Sharpe and La Plata Electric Association Chief Executive Officer Chris Hansen.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Robbins, a longtime attorney, has helped guide the ECMC\u2019s expanded regulatory scope into emerging energy sources such as geothermal and carbon sequestration. He will discuss Colorado\u2019s evolving energy policies and the role of geothermal energy in the state\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n

Sharpe, of Farmington, has more than 40 years experience in the energy industry and is an advocate for the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

Hansen has more than 25 years of experience in the global energy industry with expertise in energy economics and data analytics, and will present insights from his work and expertise.<\/p>\n

Kerr has more than 25 years experience in drilling, capital projects and renewable energy development, and focuses on advancing geothermal and other low-carbon energy projects with an emphasis on sustainable, capital-efficient growth.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Industry leaders to discuss policy, oil and gas, and emerging energy sectors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6034,6286,6268,5874,5737,6176,5736,5735],"tags":[431,1820,1098,221,28,483],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-general","category-dh-trueanthem","category-energy","category-gas-and-oil","category-headlines","category-la-plata-electric-association","category-local-news","category-news","tag-business-general","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-energy","tag-gas-and-oil","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-electric-association"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79802,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53953\/revisions\/79802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53953"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}