Keith O. Rattie is president, chairman and CEO of Questar Corp., which has large oil and natural gas holdings in Wyoming and throughout the Rockies. He's also on the Energy Resources Council, which governs the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources.

This week, Rattie said publicly that the oil and gas industry will be on the defensive, suggesting a Democratic-controlled Washington, D.C., may perpetuate anti-drilling policies.

Efforts to add new state rules on oil and gas drilling in Colorado have put industry on the defensive. The industry successfully helped defeat an initiative in Colorado that would have ended a property tax credit worth $321 million in additional revenue to the state.

With that backdrop is also the news that Questar will move most of its capital spending out of the Rockies to Louisiana and other areas of the United States.

But the move has less to do with public policy than it does with a natural gas glut created by a production increase in the Rockies that has consistently outpaced pipeline export capacity.

"If all the gas comes on that we anticipate, there's just not enough capacity to get it out of the Rockies," said Paul Matheny, vice president of Questar's Rockies Region.

Matheny said Questar plans to pull its capital spending from all of the Rockies with the one exception of the Pinedale Anticline natural gas play. However, Matheny said the natural gas industry in the Rockies has been "successful" enough in responding to national demand for the product that the industry has outpaced pipeline development to get it to market.

It's the financial crisis and resulting decrease in energy demand that is impacting business decisions more so than a possible change in direction on energy policy.

"We're anticipating lower gas prices in the immediate future, so to live within our cash flow we're not going to drill at the same levels as we have in the past," said Matheny, adding that Questar will switch its capital spending on higher-return plays in the mid-continent.

Some environmentalists anticipate a more measured pace of drilling on public lands under an Obama administration.

"While the president-elect has made clear his view that domestic energy production should be increased, it seems likely his policies will include a greater degree of environmental protection than the Bush administration has evidenced," said Laurie Milford, executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, in a press release Thursday.

Yet, there's little panic in the industry so far regarding future access to public lands.

"As far as policies, most of the rules and regulations are in place, so it won't change early on in the administration," said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

Hinchey said the bright spot for the industry is that several pipeline companies have made assurances that they intend to build additional pipeline capacity out of the Rockies, which is in keeping with Questar's expectation that natural gas production will continue to rise in the Rockies.

But energy production must work in concert with the build-out of infrastructure. Those billion-dollar pipeline investments require producers and end users to sign long-term contracts - 15-year terms and longer. And that requires continued access to public lands.

"I think the (Bureau of Land Management) has done a good job trying to get out as many (drilling permits) as they can. I'd hate to see it slowed down as it already is in some cases," said Hinchey.

Matheny said the hope, and the expectation, is that the economy will recover. And when it does, demand will return. That means companies must still plan today for drilling and production that may take place years from now.

"It's important not to mistake the short-term gas transportation problem in the Rockies for the need for access to public lands and development going away," said Matheny. "You have to look at it in the long view."

Contact energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com