“Apply well-established preemption principles, the supreme court concludes that the City of Longmont’s ban on fracking and the storage and disposal of fracking wastes within its city limits operationally conflicts with applicable state law”. This decision overturns the democratically enacted measure to ban fracking passed overwhelmingly by Longmont residents in 2012 and strips all Coloradans of their Constitutional right to say “no” to fracking in their communities in order to prevent problems inherent in fracking, including air pollution, health complications, water contamination and reduced property values. This is not just a win for the energy industry but for the people of Colorado who rely on affordable and dependable energy and a strong economy.
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Haley said the rulings send a strong message to those pushing for the ballot measures.
As Executive Director Pete Maysmith tells it, local communities “are best-suited to make decisions about what happens with oil and gas drilling within their borders”.
It found that 21 of 25 papers published on the health impacts show potential risks or actual adverse outcomes, including increased incidence of cancer and birth defects associated with living in close proximity to oil and gas wells.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has always been a contentious issue in Colorado, the nation’s No. 7 energy-producing state.
The court ruled that Fort Collins’ five-year moratorium within the city limits is “a matter of mixed state and local concern and, therefore, is subject to preemption by state law”. The oil and gas industry defeated the cities in lower courts by claiming that only the state has the authority to regulate fracking.
“For these operators, banning fracking would result in less than optimal recovery and a corresponding waste of oil and gas”, Justice Richard Gabriel wrote in the Longmont opinion. Several municipalities followed suit, including Fort Collins, which passed a moratorium in 2013. For Broomfield, it means that its moratorium is illegal. “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”. Over one million dollars.
The Voss ruling did not totally pre-empt what local government can do without impeding state interests. But the reasoning of the Court could have a substantial impact on other courts because so few cases have been decided on these issues nationally. The environmental group CREED has pushed the ballot measures since December, and lobbied for everything from delaying the permitting process for companies looking to frack, to regulations giving local governments the power to regulate fracking and create sharp restrictions on where companies can frack. Can we expect more lawsuits in the future?
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Fort Collins city attorney Carrie Daggett said it will review the court’s decision “carefully and fully to evaluate how it affects the City”. We would have to file a preliminary injunction/complaint to get an expedited hearing in front of a court.
