Voters in five Front Range cities have placed moratoriums on the drilling technique, effectively banning gas and oil drilling because nearly every well is hydraulically fractured.<\/p>\n
Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, said those towns should lose a share of their severance tax money, a portion of which is set aside to help communities cope with the industrial impacts of drilling, like damaged roads.<\/p>\n
Sonnenberg\u2019s House Bill 1064 would have banned cash payments and grants funded by severance taxes to any town or county that doesn\u2019t allow drilling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about doing the right thing with those severance tax dollars and sending them to communities to help mitigate the costs of energy production,\u201d Sonnenberg said.<\/p>\n
Democrats disagreed, saying cities should not be punished for something their citizens decided through the democratic process.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I look at this bill, it just seems so punitive,\u201d said Rep. Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver.<\/p>\n
Kevin Bommer of the Colorado Municipal League testified against the bill and was the only witness at the hearing. He said moratoriums are only temporary.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo punish a municipality or a county for a moratorium that is going to be gone anyway doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense,\u201d Bommer said.<\/p>\n
Sonnenberg\u2019s bill died 7-6 on a party-line vote in the House Local Government Committee.<\/p>\n
It was one of only a few gas and oil bills to be introduced this year. Democrats are limiting their gas and oil agenda to a forthcoming bill to raise fines on the industry for spills.<\/p>\n
But so far, no one has introduced any other bills to either boost or undercut the power of local governments over drilling.<\/p>\n