Perhaps the most ironic aspect of Colorado’s current political situation may be that the oil and gas industry—which has made great strides in protecting the environment—faces a bitter fight at the polls over use of a drilling technology that has been shown to be safe for more than six decades.

“We have communities that have recently banned fracking,” said Kevin Williams, senior vice president of DCP Midstream LLC’s north business unit, at Hart Energy’s recent DUG Bakken and Niobrara conference. “We have a fight on our hands in Colorado to get the citizens to support our ability to continue to develop the state’s resources safely and responsibly.”

Among the numerous initiatives that, if passed, would change the state’s constitution is the Community Rights Amendment, which would allow individual government entities, such as counties, cities or “municipal subdivisions” to regulate hydraulic fracturing, mining or other “health, safety and welfare” issues. The proposals require 86,105 signatures to qualify for the statewide ballot. This particular measure is sponsored by the Colorado Community Rights Network, a group that claims it wants to codify local self-government “in the face of corporate exploitation.”

In spite of the prose in the group’s marketing effort that draws a parallel with challenges faced by the original 13 colonies, the proposal is clearly focused on banning fracking. It was drafted by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, based in Pennsylvania.

DCP Midstream, based in Denver, and other energy companies operating in Colorado have expressed concerns that decentralizing regulatory authority would wreak havoc on plans to quickly ramp up production in the state. The Niobrara Shale alone is estimated to contain 2 billion barrels (bbl) of recoverable crude oil.

“The state, the industry and even the Environmental Defense Fund have all agreed to the toughest [volatile organic compound] emissions standards in the country, [Air Quality Control Commission Regulation No. 7],” Williams said. “We are proving our commitment to being sustainable and responsible, but getting through to the general public is a big challenge that we have. This is a fight we cannot and must not lose.”

Williams expressed particular concern over semantics now employed by the antifracking movement.

“You go to the polls and you see, ‘would you like local control to protect your children?’ People are going to vote yes for that,” he said. “So we need to understand what we’re dealing with. This isn’t just about getting the facts out to the community. The facts clearly speak in favor of the industry on fracking, on water use, on energy independence, finally on reduced carbon emissions.”

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