When Colorado Governor put a deciding fifth vote on the Colorado Supreme Court, he stacked it with Republican Brian Boatright. As a result, Hickenlooper has crushed court cases that would have led to higher education funding levels, and now a win prohibiting cities like Fort Collins and Longmont from regulating fracking in their city limits.
Environmentalists like Pete Maysmith jeered the court decision:
“We believe that good policy-making happens from the ground up and that local communities are best-suited to make decisions about what happens with oil and gas drilling within their borders. Local governments should have the ability to call a timeout on drilling in order to better understand its impacts and ensure safety and public health, just as they are allowed to do with other industries,” Maysmith said.
“We will continue to stand with the communities that are being dramatically impacted by oil and gas drilling. Their concerns have not gone away with today's rulings,” he said.
“These decisions also show that the oil and gas industry's threats of litigation are a hammer that the industry has no qualms about wielding against local governments if they decide to engage in land use planning. In order to combat this hammer, local governments must be empowered with better tools to protect their citizens from heavy industrial drilling.”
The oil industry took the opposite comfort:
Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director Tracee Bentley welcomed the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to uphold the state's primacy in overseeing oil and natural gas permitting. The decision curtails arbitrary bans on hydraulic fracturing that could cost local jobs, deprive state and local governments of much-needed tax revenues, and limit access to critical energy resources.
“Today's decision protects private property rights, which are a main driver for the energy renaissance in this country. The U.S. was counted out as an oil and natural gas superpower, but with states like Colorado leading the way, the U.S. defied the odds to become the world's largest producer of natural gas and a world leader in crude production.
“Energy development has been a driver of economic growth in Colorado. More than a thousand businesses spread across the state are part of the larger oil and natural gas supply chain. Vast supplies of clean, affordable natural gas unleashed by hydraulic fracturing have allowed natural gas to produce much more of American's electricity. In other words, were it not for hydraulic fracturing, our carbon emissions would be much higher.
“Effective regulation results when regulators and all stakeholders can work together to ensure safe development. We have that in Colorado. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission ensures participation and input from all stakeholders as well as vital scientific data and expertise for safe and responsible development of Colorado's oil and natural gas resources.”
The Colorado Petroleum Council is a division of API, which represents all segments of America's oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 650 members produce, process, and distribute most of the nation's energy. The industry also supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy.
Photo by Daquella manera
Photo by SFU – University Communications
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