Until recent weeks, most opponents of the bill were Northeast Colorado conservatives concerned with property rights. But it was opponents of hydraulic fracturing who sealed the bill\u2019s fate by swamping the phone lines of Democratic legislators.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was becoming something that it wasn\u2019t. Perception became reality,\u201d said the sponsor, Rep. Jenise May, D-Aurora.<\/p>\n
May asked to have her bill killed Wednesday morning. The action shocked the Senate sponsor, Wheat Ridge Democrat Cheri Jahn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe frustrating part for me is the soundbytes that can be used to detract from the actual policy,\u201d Jahn said. \u201cThis had nothing to do with fracking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sponsors ran the bill in reaction to a state Supreme Court ruling that interpreted Colorado law to forbid eminent domain for oil pipelines. It is allowed for natural gas and utility pipelines, and until the 2012 court decision, oil companies had operated under the assumption that they, too, could have land condemned for pipelines.<\/p>\n
With the bill\u2019s death, both May and Jahn predicted oil companies will rely more on trucks and trains to transport oil, which they said are more dangerous than pipelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to move the product. You have (oil-based) plastic products everywhere in our society. People put gasoline in their cars,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n
But May was unwilling to push the bill through when it would have been a difficult vote for her colleagues to explain to anti-fracking activists. She said she will try to craft a new bill this summer, when there\u2019s less pressure, for the 2015 legislative session.<\/p>\n
But Jahn wanted to see it passed this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisappointment does not begin to say what I feel right now. It should have been an up-or-down vote, and we did have the votes in the House,\u201d Jahn said.<\/p>\n