Colorado Fracking Opponents Losing Local Control Fight - Bloomberg

Colorado Fracking Opponents Losing Local Control Fight - Bloomberg: "From Texas to North Dakota, companies are clashing with landowners and environmentalists over the local impact of expanded drilling in the U.S. as production has soared because of hydraulic fracturing, which uses sand, water and chemicals to free fossil fuels from shale rock.

The Colorado vote had been seen as a bellwether for “local control” concerns and other potential ballot initiatives to restrict fracking, including one in Denton, Texas, expected to reach voters in November. Communities nationwide have passed 430 measures against fracking, according to a running list kept by Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based public interest organization.

The stakes are greater in Colorado compared with elsewhere due to the amount of oil production at risk and the statewide nature of any regulations approved by voters. The local control initiatives, if passed, would have “severely” impacted hydraulic fracturing in Weld County, the core of new drilling activity, according to a July 29 report from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co."



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