For anyone who worked at gathering signatures in 2014 to put local control over energy extraction and/or setbacks for drilling and production operations on the ballot that year, it’s been a really long 24 months with heartbreak and joy for bookends.
As all who’ve been involved in this David verses Goliath struggle will recall, in 2014, political slight of hand led to more than a quarter million voter signatures being tossed into the trash at the last minute.
But that was then and this is now. On Monday, Aug. 8, with approximately 15 minutes to spare before the 3 p.m. deadline, more than 200,000 signatures were turned over to the Colorado Secretary of State to be counted and authenticated.
The grassroots coalition calling itself “Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking” submitted the signatures which represent more than enough Colorado voters to place two initiatives on this year’s November ballot.
Initiative #75 is titled “Local Governmental Control of Oil and Gas Development.” And according to a statement released by the coalition, “Using state rules as a foundation, the measure would give local governments a wide range of options to protect their communities and neighborhoods from the harms associated with oil and gas development, including hydraulic fracturing.”
The second initiative, #78, is titled “Mandatory Setbacks from Oil and Gas Development.” Those turning in the signatures claim it “establishes a buffer zone of 2,500’ (less than 1/2 mile) between new oil and gas development, including fracking, and homes, hospitals, schools, and sensitive areas like playgrounds and drinking water sources. … It also takes into account the perimeters of real-life explosion, evacuation, and burn zones.”
The number of valid signatures from registered Colorado voters needed to place an initiative on this year’s November ballot is just under 99,000. More than that number of signatures were turned in for both initiatives #75 and #78. The exact number turned in for each is still unknown because the signature gathering process actually picked up steam over the final weekend and continued right up until the deadline, making an exact final count impossible.
The Secretary of State now has 30 days to count and authenticate the signatures. If the final number of approved signatures stays above the minimum threshold, both measures will appear on the November ballot and voters will finally, after more than three years of effort, have the right to vote to protect their families, homes and communities from the well-documented harms of fracking and oil and gas extraction in close proximity to where people live.
To date, the oil and gas industry has spent tens of millions of dollars to stop the anti-fracking movement’s momentum. It has exerted massive political pressure including (by its own admission) the takeover of some city councils. It continues to pump millions into the largest advertising spend in state history on TV and in newspapers in its attempt to influence news coverage of the industry.
And finally, the industry has created and funded multiple oil and gas front groups run by the most powerful political operatives in the state, including Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development (CRED), Vital for Colorado, Protect Colorado and the Common Sense Policy Roundtable in its effort to keep Initiatives #75 and #78 off the ballot.
But as of Monday, Aug. 8, it appears that informed and motivated voters are still the most powerful force in Colorado democracy.
