Donald Trump met with a handful of oil and gas executives in Colorado. | AP Photo Trump courts Colorado oil executives

Donald Trump huddled Tuesday with oil and gas executives in Colorado, expanding his outreach to an industry that has seen its influence grow in the Republican nominee's campaign after some early missteps.

Trump told the industry he would reduce regulations, in contrast to the approach of President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Safety and environmental rules are necessary, Trump told the executives, according to a pool report, but there are also "regulations that are totally unnecessary and put people out of work." He apparently did not get into specifics in the 10 minutes reporters were allowed to stay in the room.



The Trump campaign said 15 executives were invited to the meeting, but a pool reporter said he counted only 14 people in the room. One executive stressed the importance of "the shale revolution," and all generally agreed with Trump's conclusion that "regulations are probably your biggest problem."


Trump's meeting in Denver comes as two polls this week showed Clinton with an 11-point lead in Colorado. Trump brought up polls of the state and told the oil executives "we're doing really well," according to the pool report.

The New York developer raised eyebrows in the state this summer when he appeared to endorse proposed ballot measures that would have effectively let cities and towns ban fracking. "I think if the voters are voting for it, that's up to them," he told a local TV station in July. In the end, activists failed to collect enough signatures to get the anti-fracking measures on the November ballot, and Trump associates walked back his comment.

Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm, the oil executive said to be on Trump's Energy Secretary short list, later told the Wall Street Journal that Trump "did not understand" the issue of local fracking bans when he answered the question but "he does now."

At Tuesday's meeting, Trump also told the oil and gas executives that while safety and environmental regulations are called for, regulations have generally "gotten out of control" and solely benefit "people in government," according to the pool report.

"The energy business is being decimated," Trump said.

The Republican nominee sought to cement his once-shaky support among oil and gas producers last month with a speech at a gas industry conference in Pittsburgh, where he vowed that the industry is "going to like Donald Trump." The two-year slide in oil prices has forced cutbacks and belt-tightening across the board in the industry, which has consistently challenged Obama over regulations it argues would deepen the pain of the downturn.

Slated participants in the meeting included three top executives at HRM Resources, whose president and CEO backed the 2014 reelection bid of Colorado's pro-fracking Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper. Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director Tracee Bentley, a former aide to Hickenlooper, was also scheduled to attend, according to the pool report.

The other anticipated attendees were Kent Gilbert of Fifth Creek Energy; Mercator Energy CEO John Harpole; PDC CEO Bart Brookman; Scott Stewart of Gilbert-Stewart Operating; Chip Rimer of Noble Energy; Enduring Resources CEO Barth Whitham; Synergy Resources CEO Lynn Peterson; Bayswater CEO Steve Struna; Eaton Metal CEO Tim Travis; Inflexion Energy CEO Mark Sextron; and NexGen Resources CEO Charlie McNeil.

None of the executives have donated to Trump's campaign, according to a search of campaign finance records.

Eli Stokols contributed to this report.