All of a sudden, the second week of December looms large for Gov. Bill Ritter.

That's the week Colorado's oil and gas commissioners give final consideration to new rules for energy drilling that offer further protection for the environment, wildlife and impacted communities.

The oil and gas industry doesn't want any new rules they perceive as impeding energy development. And fresh from trouncing Ritter's ballot proposal to end its $320 million property-tax subsidy, the industry has some newfound leverage. That's because Ritter, in remarks made Wednesday, said he now wants to work harder to get industry execs on board with a compromise plan to boost the state's severance tax revenues.

Ritter has tried hard to avoid any linkage between the new drilling rules and an increase in severance revenue. But such linkage is and probably always was inevitable. His efforts to overhaul drilling rules and raise oil and gas revenue are going on at the same time with the same parties. Politics is the art of the possible, and it's only possible to get oil and gas people on board with a revenue increase if they conclude that new drilling regulations are not onerous.

To his credit, Ritter seemed to get religion on this point late last summer when his chief of staff, Jim Carpenter, began to conduct meetings between oil and gas operators and rule makers. Regulators reversed course on some of the more contentious regulations, such as one that could have subjected companies to 90-day no-drilling periods to protect wildlife. The feuding parties seemed to be coming together, at least until the tough election fight drove them back apart.

In my opinion, Ritter was doing the right thing but for the wrong reasons. Oil and gas operators get a far better deal in Colorado than in surrounding states. New Mexico and Wyoming, for instance, are able to do more for their residents precisely because they have more severance tax revenue than we do. But for Colorado to say it needed the revenue for more scholarships - well, not enough people bought into that. Perhaps if the money were earmarked for transportation, more voters would have been swayed. But absent a more compelling reason to side with Ritter, voters instead bought into a fairly bogus ad campaign that claimed our energy bills would go up as a result. That was baloney, but it was $12 million worth of baloney, and voters finally were bombarded into submission.

Chalk up the ballot proposal as a blown opportunity. And assume Ritter has maybe one more chance to get it right. That's why the second week of December looms large. Oil and gas operators have to feel good about the new drilling rules or they won't play ball with Ritter on getting more severance tax money to address the state's problems. He knows it. Asked Wednesday about final adoption of the new drilling rules, he said, "If we do that, I think it is possible to sit down with the CEOs and talk about the severance tax picture and see if there's any common ground."

One hidden advantage Ritter may have in these negotiations is the election of Barack Obama as president. Obama's campaign rhetoric about green jobs and clean coal and the new energy economy has the oil and gas industry a little spooked. They see a president hellbent on renewable energy, possibly at the expense of fossil fuel. Suddenly, Ritter doesn't seem that bad. He may well be more useful to them as an ally than an adversary.

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