Loveland Fracking Vote Doesn't End Talk Of Special Session
DENVER (AP/CBS4) - A victory for the oil and gas industry in a pro-fracking vote in Loveland didn't stop talk of a special legislative session to tackle new curbs on the practice in Colorado.
Voters in the Larimer County town rejected a ballot measure on Tuesday that called for a local moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, a drilling procedure known as fracking. Five other towns had approved similar anti-fracking measures.
Oil and gas industry representatives said the vote shows that anti-fracking measures can be defeated at the ballot box.
"The results in Loveland should be a warning to people pushing similar ballot measures across the state," said Karen Crummy, a spokeswoman for Protecting Colorado's Environment, Economy, and Energy Independence, a group fighting anti-energy ballot measures.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wednesday that negotiations were continuing on the possibility of calling lawmakers back to Denver to address fracking.
The session, under discussion for more than a month, would have lawmakers consider a bill aimed at stalling a potential statewide ballot measure curbing oil and gas drilling.
The administration passed around a draft bill as recently as Monday seeking feedback from industry allies and drilling critics.
The head of Colorado Concern, an organization of more than 100 CEOs, said the group was encouraged by the Loveland results and still interested in a special session.
"If there is a statutory solution to this issue, that is preferable to a fight at the ballot box," Tamra Ward said.
Fracking critics, meanwhile, showed no sign of cooling their campaigns to gather signatures for two statewide ballot measures to curb the industry. One would increase rig setbacks from homes from 500 feet to 2,000 feet. The other would create an Environmental Bill of Rights.
Aug. 4 is the deadline for submitting signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Nick Passanante, campaign manager for the committee pushing the ballot measures, insisted the Loveland vote did not indicate that a statewide ballot measure would fail.
"We have no doubt that we have the support to go forward and succeed in November," Passanante said.
The Loveland measure would have set a two-year moratorium on fracking in city limits. It failed by about 900 votes out of about 21,000 total votes.
The city has already heard from Anadarko Petroleum. The company is proposing to frack the land east of Interstate 25 just north of Highway 34. The closest landmark is the Promenade Shops At Centerra.
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- By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer
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