Fracking protestors begin to gather outside the Colorado Supreme Court Building, December 2015. The Colorado Supreme Court heard two appeals on challenging the legality of Longmont s ban and Ft Collins’ 5-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. (Cliff Grassmick, Daily Camera)
Re: Colorado Supreme Court gets it right on fracking, May 3 editorial.
The unseemly crowing of the Post editorial board regarding the recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court usurping local control over gas drilling is regrettable. Gas drilling, regardless of whether fracking is used or not, is an intrusive, impactful industrial activity that local citizens in a community should have a right to control and manage. The rapidly increasing reports regarding extensive gas leaks, groundwater pollution and safety violations are a matter of true concern for those impacted by these all too common events.
The embarrassing failure of the state to properly and quickly respond to these problems and instead pander to the oil and gas industry is what led to local initiatives and action. That failure is what should be a matter of serious state concern.
Edward Talbot, Arvada
This letter was published in the May 7 edition.It is a distinct possibility that the Colorado Supreme Court did every Coloradan a huge favor when it decided against local control of fracking this past week. That decision will usher in multiple ballot issues against this insidious process that will be decided in November, and will, at long last, place this decision into the hands of those who truly should decide the matter: the people.
I am confident that, even if Colorado were to follow New York state and completely ban fracking, there would still be plenty of jobs for anyone who wanted one. This is not the Colorado of the 1980s.
John Beauparlant, Denver
This letter was published in the May 7 edition.
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