The powerful Colorado Oil and Gas Association likes its statehouse politics the way it likes its business: steady and predictable.

President and CEO Dan Haley told reporters at a Capitol forum last week that COGA won’t drive an aggressive agenda this session. It’s ready to fight round two, however, if House Democrats introduce another bill to hold oil and gas companies liable for damage caused by earthquakes.

Last year House 1310 passed the Democrat-led House on a party-line vote, before it was squashed by the Republican majority in the Senate.

“The oil and gas industry like any industry, like any business, craves regulatory and political certainty and stability, and quite honestly we have not had that in recent years,” Haley told reporters. “We have, in fact, had 10 major rule-makings over the last six years. We’ve had the threat of ballot initiatives hanging over our head every two years. We’ve had cities illegally ban oil and gas over the last five years, and we’ve some legislative uncertainty here at the statehouse. “Honestly we are not looking for much this legislative session other than time to do our jobs to be in compliance with the very tough rules that are already in place and to bring energy to Coloradans at a fair and affordable price.”

The industry, a big job and tax-revenue producer for the state, is still in the doldrums, Haley said. The state has 28 rigs pumping right now, up from 15 last year, but in June 2014 the state had 77. Prices for oil and natural gas are starting to recover, so COGA expects some growth in 2017.

Colorado is oversupplied with natural gas, he said. The demise last month of the Jordan Cove pipeline project to pump natural gas from Colorado to Oregon was a setback, Haley said.

Natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel, releasing less than half the greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide of other fossil fuels. It also represents an economic boost for Colorado, if it can be extracted and transported to market affordably.

“It’s a win for everybody,” he said. “It’s jobs for Colorado. It helps the economy of Colorado, and it helps our partners in the Pacific Rim if they’re burning that cleaner-burning natural gas,.”

Sounds like Haley and Minority Leader Patrick Neville, a Republican from Castle Rock, are reading from the same hymnal on certainty and regulation.

Discussing the upcoming session with my colleague Peter Marcus, Neville said managing regulations and risk will be a top priority for him.

“It’s important for businesses to have some predictability and some stability,” he said.