Category Archives: Fracking

Pro-fracking petition in Ft. Collins with fake signatures embarrasses Colorado Gas & Oil Association

149 Replies

By John Upton  coloradoan.com

The oil and gas industry’s amateur attempt to mislead Fort Collins lawmakers.

Outlawing fracking in Fort Collins makes local business owners sad. At least, that’s what liars working for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association tried to tell local lawmakers. Continue reading →

Local residents turn out to protest Colorado BLM’s controversial ‘lease first, plan later’ approach

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http://checksandbalancesproject.org/2013/02/14/local-residents-turn-out-to-protest-colorado-blms-controversial-lease-first-plan-later-approach/

Wednesday, South Park and the North Fork Valley residents and business owners turned out to protest BLM’s controversial ‘lease first, plan later’ approach to oil and gas drilling at the Colorado BLM Resource Advisory Council (RAC) meetings. The public’s testimony focused on the need for BLM to finish critical planning and studies before they lease lands, in order to protect water supplies, local economies and wildlife.

COALITION ACTS TO DEFEND LONGMONT ORDINANCE

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BOULDER, CO- Today Earthworks and Sierra Club filed a motion to intervene in the State of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s lawsuit to invalidate a Longmont City Ordinance that would protect residents from the pollution and associated health  threats of oil and gas development.
The challenged Ordinance, passed in July 2012, prohibits oil and gas surface activities from occurring near homes, schools and hospitals, and places mandatory setbacks from these and other facilities, as well as from waterways and parks. The Ordinance also requires disclosure to emergency responders of hazardous chemicals transported through the City and consultation with local wildlife experts before operations begin.
“Recent research shows that oil and gas development risks the health of those living nearby,” said Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project Director Bruce Baizel. He continued, “Longmont’s Ordinance is necessary to protect the public’s health because it fills a regulatory void. It is ironic that COGCC is suing to overturn the Ordinance because the void it fills was left by the COGCC’s failure to set and enforce adequate rules governing oil and gas development.”
Over the past decade Colorado has experienced a historic boom in oil and gas drilling. Colorado currently has more than 50,000 active oil and gas wells covering much of the state’s landscape. Across Colorado’s northern plains, oil and gas companies are increasingly operating not only in sparsely populated areas, but also in towns and suburbs.
This growing trend of drilling near homes and schools prompted the City of Longmont, located 37 miles north of Denver and on the western edge of Colorado’s most productive oil and gas field, to update its land use rules to prohibit certain surface activities in residential areas.
The new rules immediately came under legal attack by the State of Colorado calling into question the City’s authority to protect its own citizens from the adverse effects of oil and gas development.
“We believe this is the first time a State has initiated a lawsuit against a local government regarding oil and gas regulation,” said Eric Huber, Senior Managing Attorney for the
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. “This action by the State government only proves that decision-making by our representatives is not always done with people in mind. If Longmont wants to prevent certain dirty and dangerous practices from energy companies from happening, then that should be their right.”
“It is imperative that Colorado communities have the ability to protect their citizens from the many harmful impacts from oil and gas mining operations,” said Shane Davis, Longmont resident and Sierra Club chapter member. “The industry has operated largely without meaningful and safe regulations and we must not let that happen any longer.”
In the lawsuit, Earthworks and Sierra Club also plan to defend Longmont’s new hazardous materials disclosure rule for chemicals transported on Longmont’s roadways, as well as the city’s new wildlife habitat and species protection rule, as they do not conflict with state law.
The State and oil industry may oppose the environmental groups’ intervention, although the Boulder County court previously allowed the industry association COGA to intervene. Attorneys for the environmental groups expect a ruling from the court in about 30 days, and the case to proceed to a decision on the merits of the State’s claims later this spring.
This lawsuit could have a precedential effect on other Colorado communities working to pass similar local regulations to protect the health and environment of residents across the state from the threats of rampant oil and gas development.
For more information on Sierra Club’s efforts to protect communities from harmful oil and gas operations go to http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas ; and to http://rmc.sierraclub.org/ ; and for Earthworks see http://fracking.earthworksaction.org.

Petition to ban fracking in the San Luis Valley

119 Replies 
Friends,

Petition Background
Colorado has seen an unprecedented boom in gas drilling, much of this
using potentially risky production techniques such as fracking. Living
communities all across the state have been significantly impacted and many
heavily damaged by these activities. The San Luis Valley is well known for
its agriculture, ranching, and tourism activities such as hunting,
fishing, and outdoor sports. Its vital watersheds are critical for life in
the San Luis Valley and south through New Mexico and Texas. The high water
demands that accompany drilling and production are counter to the need to
conserve our limited water resources especially in this protracted
drought. We demand that the Commissioners of the six counties of the San
Luis Valley recognize the unique characteristics of this valley and place
a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling in and around the San Luis Valley.

That's why I created a petition to San Luis Valley Boards of County
Commissioners, which says:

"Petition Statement
The San Luis Valley in Colorado is a culturally rich, agriculturally based
community that supplies much of the state and nation with potatoes, wheat,
barley and mushrooms. Water is the Valley's most valuable natural
resource.
The Valley is also a destination for tourists, hunters and film makers. Oil
and gas development is a direct threat to the Valley's water, air, quality
of life and livelihood. We insist on a permanent ban on any oil and gas
drilling in and around the San Luis Valley.

Will you sign my petition? Click here to add your name:

http://signon.org/sign/ban-oil-and-gas-drilling?source=c.fwd&r_by=1322789

BLM Defers all North Fork Valley Parcels

172 Replies

In a press release sent out early this morning, the BLM Colorado Office has announced that all 20 North Fork Valley parcels have been removed from the Feb. 14th oil and gas lease sale.

This is a tremendous victory for the community in the North Fork Valley!  Thank you to everyone who wrote letters to the BLM, our U.S. Senators, Rep. Tipton, and other elected officials asking them to make the right decision and removed the parcels from the sale.

The BLM has said that “We are addressing the deferred parcels through continued dialogue with the local community and with ongoing planning efforts in the Uncompahgre Field Office.”

Citizens for a Healthy Community will keep up the pressure on the BLM to make sure these parcels are not put up for leasing again.

Lamborn with snow

Citizens for a Healthy Community
Protecting people and their environment
from irresponsible oil and gas development
in the Delta County region.

Is Fracking a Good Idea?

944 Replies

By Weston W. Wilson

Earlier this month I had an unusual request.  Our nephew in Pennsylvania is a middle school principal and one of the teachers there has a 9th grade science class that decided to study fracking.  They presented me with six challenging questions.  Here are their questions and my responses.

  1. Do you support the idea of fracking? Why or why not?
    I do not support fracking because fracking: 1) harms the climate, 2) can pollute local ground water and release toxic air emissions, 3) consumes vast quantities of clean water, and 4) because local governments are forced to accept this large scale industrial development in their communities. Continue reading →

Oil and Gas lobbyist accidentally releases Colorado legislative strategy

166 Replies

In an embarrassing and highly revealing mistake, lobbyists for Colorado Legislative Services LLC accidentally released their strategy for lobbying the current session of the Colorado legislature in support of fracking. The memo was attached to a message sent to the entire Colorado General Assembly and outlines their lobbying plans on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The memo acknowledges Governor Hickenlooper’s “strong” relationship to the oil and gas industry and notes that the industry receives a $300-500 million credit of severance taxes.

Read the complete memo here.