A fragile truce on oil and gas ballot issues
While the oil and gas industry appears invested in the initiative, the effort could still prove to be a strategy designed to scare environmental groups away from their own potential ballot campaigns.
Safe and Healthy Colorado, a coalition of environmental groups, has submitted ballot language for its own measure to restrict new oil and gas development. If approved, the initiative would phase out new permits for hydraulic fracturing by 2030.
The group is currently waiting for approval from the state title board to begin collecting signatures. In the meantime, campaign finance records show it raised $54,000 to support the effort, which it has mainly spent paying lawyers to help move the initiative toward the November ballot.
Micah Parkin, a leading supporter and the executive director of the climate group 350 Colorado, said her coalition is moving forward and has no interest in negotiating with the oil and gas industry.
“We don't have any intention of making any decisions about our initiative related to what the industry does with theirs,” Parkin said.
If either initiative appears before voters, the state could see the fiercest ballot war over the oil and gas industry since 2018, when environmental groups ran an initiative to ban fracking near sensitive areas like schools and waterways.
The oil and gas industry ended up spending more than $41 million to defeat the measure. Afterward, statehouse Democrats approved legislation to overhaul Colorado’s oil and gas rules, giving more oversight to local governments and explicitly directing state regulators to consider health and safety when approving new permits.
Upon signing the legislation, Gov. Jared Polis declared an end to the “oil and gas wars” that had enveloped the state. He later pledged to oppose any measures related to the oil and gas industry through his first term — which ended in 2022 — to allow time for the new regulations to take effect.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office didn’t immediately say if Polis plans to oppose the latest set of oil and gas ballot measures.
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January 05, 2024 at 06:08AM
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Campaign to protect natural gas at the Colorado ballot box gains momentum and money - Colorado Public Radio
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