Colorado voters may have yet another anti-fracking statewide ballot initiative to consider this November. The proposed constitutional amendment that was submitted to the Colorado Legislative Council on February 21 would insert language into Colorado's Constitution that would allow local governments in Colorado to place restrictions on the time, place and method of oil and gas development, including the use of hydraulic fracturing. These activities have traditionally been regulated by the state. The proposed amendment can be found here. Backers of this amendment have organized under the name Local Control Colorado.
Local Control Colorado's submission follows in the wake of another proposed statewide ballot initiative that was submitted by the Colorado Community Rights Network known as the Community Rights Amendment. Unlike Local Control Colorado's submission, the Community Rights Network's submission is not limited solely to oil and gas activities. Rather, the Community Rights Amendment, if passed, would allow local government to regulate any for-profit business—not just the oil and gas industry. Our prior coverage of this initiative can be found here.
Assuming both of these ballot initiatives continue through the review and title setting process, supporters of the measures will need to obtain 86,105 signatures to have the amendments placed on the ballot in November, 2014. We will continue to follow developments and report them on the North America Shale Blog.
Media coverage can be found here and here.
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