The Daily Sentinel

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., and two other House Republicans are hoping to refocus on Western energy sources and rural economic woes.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, will preside over a field hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee on June 1 at Colorado Mesa University, in Tipton's 3rd Congressional District.

"We're starting to see some recovery, but it's not what our fellow Coloradans have seen on the Front Range," Tipton said.

The congressional district encompasses the nation's second-largest known natural gas reserve in the Piceance Basin, as well as the world's richest deposits of oil shale.

Interest in oil shale has picked up and "we need to look at what role, if necessary, the federal government should play in it," Tipton said.

The hearing also is to take up the Jordan Cove project, which would include construction of pipelines that would carry natural gas from the Piceance Basin to export terminals at Jordan Cove on Coos Bay, Oregon.

From there, the liquefied natural gas is to be shipped to Japan, Korea, and other Asian nations.

The project is now pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which last year nixed the project, citing the lack of a proven market.

The project now has contracts, proving the economic case for it to go forward, Tipton said.

Kevin McIntyre, the chairman of the commission who was appointed by President Donald Trump, in March posted a statement on the FERC website saying that he had undergone surgery for a small brain tumor and was recovering.

"I was advised at the time that, with the surgery and subsequent treatment behind me, I should expect to be able to maintain my usual active lifestyle, including working full time, and that expectation has proven to be accurate," McIntyre said in the statement.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado Springs, also is scheduled to attend the field hearing.