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Polis vows to keep fighting as local control oil-and-gas bill crumbles

Statewide ballot initiatives demanding more local regs could hurt Dems at polls

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May 5, 2014, 1:14 pm
oil and gas fort collins

An oil rig near condos in Fort Collins (David O. Williams photo).

Democrat Jared Polis, who represents the Vail Valley in Congress, won’t back down on ballot initiatives that could lead to greater regulatory control over oil and gas drilling by Colorado’s county and municipal governments.

The failure of state legislators to craft a compromise bill in the waning days of the current session has Polis all the more determined to let the voters decide what some in the business community are dubbing a statewide fracking ban.

“My constituents and all Coloradans simply want the freedom to live their version of the Colorado dream without interference,” Polis said in a press release Monday. “Unfortunately, the current law takes away our ability to choose what is best for our communities and families by forcing fracking to happen anywhere, anytime.

Jared Polis

Jared Polis

“The people of Colorado are demanding a reasonable balance between energy development and their quality of life. I will not stop fighting for a solution that does just that.”

A recent Politico story headlined “How fracking could break Colorado Democrats” airs their concerns that such measures will attract a flood of industry and Republican campaign dollars that could help defeat Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in November.

Hickenlooper has been a strong proponent of the current system of state control over oil and gas drilling, suing municipalities that last November passed bans on hydraulic fracturing, which is a drilling process that injects water, sand and chemicals deep underground to fracture tight rock and sand formations to free up more oil and gas.

“This is a complex issue that involves many different stakeholders,” Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown told Real Vail Monday. “The governor has insisted on broad engagement done in a bipartisan way. We know now that there is not enough time left in the legislative session to reach a compromise about issues related to local control. We have been working hard on this issue – including many hours over this past weekend – and will continue working hard on this issue.”

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry trade group, was not directly involved in negotiations but encouraged its stakeholders to participate in the process.

“At the end of the day, a bill such as this needed to be bi-partisan, with broad industry and stakeholder support,” COGA spokesman Doug Flanders told Real Vail. “Bills or ballot measures that change how oil and gas is governed will have dramatic impacts to every sector of the economy. This is why we are seeing business groups coming together to fight against these kinds of ballot measures.”

State Reps. Su Ryden, D-Aurora, and Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, were spearheading the 11th-hour negotiations for a local-control bill, which included representatives of the Hickenlooper administration. Ryden and Hullinghorst on Monday issued a joint statement that reads in part:

“Those discussions focused on harmonizing local and state authority in regards to energy production. It is of critical importance to people across this state to balance local communities’ ability to act to protect the health, safety and welfare of Colorado families while also creating a consistent and predictable regulatory framework that allows for responsible energy development.

“Our conversations have been productive, but we haven’t yet struck an accord with all of the stakeholders, and we’ve run out of time in this session to pass consensus legislation.”

Campaign representatives for both Udall and his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, did not respond to email requests for comment.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.