Colorado Supreme Court strikes down local fracking bans

Environment America

DENVER, CO — Colorado became the latest state to prevent local governments from regulating fracking today, when the state Supreme Court struck down bans in the towns of Longmont and Fort Collins.
 
“We’re disappointed to see the Colorado Supreme Court rule on the side of the polluters rather than the health, safety, and sovereignty of Colorado’s communities,” said Rachel Richardson, director of Environment America’s Stop Drilling program.
 
Local officials bear the brunt of many of fracking’s dangerous impacts, prompting towns and counties around the country to ban or regulate the practice. More than 250 local officials from around the country have called for fracking to be subject to local control.
 
The fight for local authority to limit fracking has yielded mixed results. State legislatures and courts in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina and now Colorado and have sided with the oil and gas industry by pre-empting local laws, while earlier this year a Florida state Senate committee narrowly defeated a measure that would have blocked local bans.
 
“From earthquakes and ruined infrastructure, to increased air and water pollution, fracking causes local harm,” said Rachel Richardson, Stop Drilling program director at Environment America, “and until we ban it altogether, it should be subject to local control.”