{"id":108692,"date":"2015-10-22T22:05:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T04:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/is-a-fracking-ballot-question-coming\/"},"modified":"2015-10-22T22:05:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T04:05:48","slug":"is-a-fracking-ballot-question-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/is-a-fracking-ballot-question-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a fracking ballot question coming?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A drilling rig south of Durango works at an existing well pad near U.S. Highway 550. Critics of hydraulic fracturing say a statewide ballot initiative may be the only recourse to empower local governments to ban fracking.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 Critics of hydraulic fracturing on Wednesday told state oil and gas regulators that a statewide ballot initiative may be necessary because proposed rules around local control fall short.<\/p>\n

The comments came during a stakeholder meeting held by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. State regulators took comments from the public ahead of official hearings scheduled for Nov. 16 and 17.<\/p>\n

The commission is weighing two proposed rules, both of which stem from a task force convened by Gov. John Hickenlooper, which was charged with making recommendations around the local-control issue.<\/p>\n

One proposal would require oil and gas operators to notify local governments when building large facilities. The other would require operators to register with local governments.<\/p>\n

Fracking critics say state regulators have ignored their voices in the debate. They are calling for prohibiting waste-injection facilities in residential neighborhoods, prohibiting operations near schools, allowing adjacent landowners to object to facilities requests and moving large facilities from residential areas, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens have to get a ballot initiative going to get people to listen to them,\u201d said a woman who spoke at the meeting, who was part of a coalition of groups that have been working to allow local governments to ban fracking and enact rules and regulations beyond the state\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

Part of the need for the governor\u2019s task force was to strike a compromise in order to avoid looming statewide ballot initiatives.<\/p>\n

But eight months after the Oil and Gas Task Force made its recommendations, tensions remain high, and ballot proposals remain on the table.<\/p>\n

Recent court cases have also complicated the matter. The Colorado Supreme Court in September agreed to hear a case that would settle the question of local authority.<\/p>\n

Matt Lepore, director of the COGCC, said it\u2019s not as simple as allowing local governments to ban fracking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you love your neighborhood; I know you don\u2019t want it to change,\u201d Lepore said. \u201cBut there\u2019s property rights involved here that those mineral owners have.\u201d<\/p>\n

pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Activists say ballot effort may be only recourse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[950,1722],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-108692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-durango","tag-regional-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108692"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=108692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}