Colorado fracking measures won’t make the ballot

Two anti-fracking initiatives did not get enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, Colorado officials announced on Monday, giving the oil and gas industry its latest victory over communities seeking to exert local control over fracking.

Williams said supporters submitted more than the minimum 98,492 signatures required for each proposal but not enough to compensate for those rejected during a random sample of the signatures submitted.

Backers of the measures have 30 days to appeal.

The measures, which were expected to be voted on in November, contained provisions for granting local governments powers to regulate fracking as well as establishing a 2,500-foot buffer zone between oil and gas sites and objects such as water sources, waterways, public parks and other occupied buildings or areas of special concern.

One proposal sought to require new oil and gas wells to be at least 2,500 feet from homes and schools in Colorado, which opponents said that would leave 90 percent of the state off-limits to future drilling.

The other would have given local governments authority to restrict or ban energy development, a power now held nearly exclusively by state regulators.

Last week, Hickenlooper criticized efforts by environmental groups to derail oil and natural gas development in the state and predicted the two potential amendments to the constitution wouldn’t make the November ballot (see Shale Daily, Aug. 26). Backers of 75 turned in 107,232 signatures, but from the random sample, state officials projected that petitioners had submitted only 80.9 percent of the required figure.

“Yes for Health and Safety over Fracking”, the group backing the ballot initiatives, said it was reviewing the ruling to determine whether to file a challenge.

The court ruled that a ban on fracking in Longmont and a five-year moratorium in Fort Collins were invalid because they conflicted with state law. Fracking injects a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals underground to crack open formations and make it easier to recover oil and gas. Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development (CRED) ran a series of anti-ballot measure ads, urging people to “decline to sign”. “We will not let the oil and gas industry stop us from fighting for what is right – our message today is clear, fracking can’t be regulated and we will stop it in Colorado in order to protect our communities and workers”.

The energy industry and big business groups, such as the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, fought against the two measures and raised more than $15 million to defeat them.

Earlier this month, an oil/natural gas industry-backed measure to make it more hard to amend Colorado’s state constitution qualified for the November ballot with support from Gov. John Hickenlooper (see Daily GPI, Aug. 18).

Environmentalists are looking to resurrect a failed effort from 2014 to allow local governments to ban fracking. “The actions of the industry have only served to galvanize supporters”.