DENVER (AP) – A Boulder County-based citizens group opposed to fracking filed a package of ballot initiatives that would circumvent a compromise sought by Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis of Boulder.
Coloradans Resisting Extreme Energy Development submitted paperwork Tuesday for 11 potential ballot questions to provide mandatory setbacks for wells from homes and schools, more local control on drilling decisions or an outright ban on the process of hydraulic fracturing.
Eight of the 11 are variations of proposals for mandatory setbacks. Each of the constitutional amendments would need signatures from 98,492 registered Colorado voters to get on next November’s ballot.
A review-and-comment hearing on the language of the ballot questions is set for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 5 in Room 109 at the state Capitol.
“If the state will not adequately protect Coloradans and communities, then we, the people of Colorado, must do it, and that requires a change to Colorado law,” Tricia Olson, CREED’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Our beautiful state should not be overwhelmed by wells, pads, and other industrial oil and gas operations plunked down next to neighborhoods and schools.”
To keep two ballot initiatives – one to quadruple the setback to 2,000 feet and one for local control – off the 2014 general election ballot, Hickenlooper and Polis, who sided with anti-fracking groups, forged an agreement by creating a task force to seek a compromise.
Fracking opponents were disappointed in February when the recommendations left regulation with the state but gave little or no additional power to local communities.
“Most of the people who oppose fracking were against that compromise,” said Karen Dike, one of the lead proponents of the fracking amendments.
Dike said of the Hickenlooper-Polis deal. “The compromise did nothing to protect local communities.”
Polis said after the task force report was released, “Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry proved they weren’t interested in a compromise or solving the problem.”
Dike said CREED does not yet have a major source of funding to aid the campaign to collect signatures, but hopes to pick up support as the process advances.
