In May, we took note of
Colorado Democratic Rep. Jared Polis’
anti-fracking initiatives in his state, though he sees it more
of a “local control” effort than anti-fracking. Initiatives he
threw his weight and money behind were intended to increase
regulation on fracking in his state and give municipalities the
authority to introduce further restrictions.
His efforts ended up causing some rifts in the Democratic Party
in Colorado, because the Democratic establishment there is not
necessarily anti-fracking. Polis’ push put him at odds with
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall.
Today, Polis and Hickenlooper reached a compromise that will
result in Polis pulling his initiatives in exchange for the
creation of an advisory task force to recommend fracking
regulations to the state’s legislature, where stakeholders from all
sides would give input.
On Hickenlooper’s side, the state will drop a lawsuit against
the town of Longmont. The town had passed its own ban on fracking.
According to
The Hill, industry representatives also agreed to drop
two pro-fracking initiatives, one of which would have blocked towns
like Longmont from receiving tax revenue from oil and gas
development.
Rep. Polis put out a response on Facebook that read in part:
These immediate steps give me great hope that together we will
forge a solution that works for all of Colorado. Given my renewed
hope that my constituents will be able to shape the statewide
fracking policy through the legislative process as soon as the next
legislative session, I am withdrawing my financial support for the
proposed ballot initiatives. To be clear, I am not giving up this
fight, I will continue to push for greater health and safety for my
constituents through every avenue available to me. My sincere hope
is that the legislature will heed the concerns of thousands of
Coloradans that have demanded reasonable safeguards from oil and
gas development. I want to thank all the community organizers that
have worked tirelessly to bring their concerns to the forefront and
have demanded action on this important issue. There is still a
great amount of work to be done, but today represents real
progress.
There’s a video of their joint press conference here.
As always, when reading about fracking fears, it helps to have
Ron Bailey’s “Top
5 Lies About Fracking” on hand to dispel some of the myths.
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