The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled the week
that municipalities cannot ban hydraulic fracking, putting an end to a lengthy
legal battle about the practice in the state.
On May 2, the state Supreme Court upheld lower court
rulings by determining that provisions taken by Fort Collins and Longmont
attempting to put a stop to fracking in the cities were invalid and
unenforceable.
“I think it is good
for the economy,” Leanne D. Wheeler, a U.S. Air Force veteran and
the volunteer chair for Colorado Vets4Energy, told TI News. “Oil and gas is a growth sector here in Colorado and with
the number of transitioning military that we see here now — we transition
monthly between 850 and 1,300 service members — many of those folks have core
training that translates to the oil and gas industry.”
The oil and gas
industry presents great employment opportunities for veterans, Wheeler said.
Colorado sits on a rich source of natural gas
called the Niobrara Formation, which attracts numerous fracking operations. Between
2000 and 2010, the number of active oil and gas wells in Colorado rose
significantly — from 22,228 wells to 43,354, according to reports.
Voters in cities along the Colorado Front Range have complained about
drilling occurring too close to communities in the area in recent years.
In 2012, voters in Longmont banned fracking
and the following year, voters in Fort Collins passed a five-year moratorium on
the controversial practice.
The Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA)
filed lawsuits against the cities seeking to have the bans lifted. COGA argued
that state law prohibited such bans. Two district court judges agreed and overturned
the bans.
The case went before the Supreme Court after
both cities appealed.
“The
process had to be one of the community getting a vote on what they want to see and
what they don’t want to see in their neighborhoods,” Wheeler said. “That is why we all served,
to give folks a right to be able to speak up for what they believe in and for
what they want to see happen for themselves. And so that process played out and
the courts stood by lifting the ban and work can go on. I feel good about that
and Vets4energy, with its role in transitioning veterans into these livable wage
jobs, feels good about that.”
Proponents of oil
drilling say it boosts the country’s economy, is a matter of national security, and that banning fracking will promote the nation’s reliance on foreign governments.
“If we are reliant on
foreign governments to do that then there is a risk of foreign governments no
longer being able to do that and it could in fact hamper our national security,” Wheeler said. “That is absolutely a good thing for us that we are able to identify how to meet
our own needs more and more.”
Wheeler added that Colorado
has been tapping into its natural fossil fuel resource and fracking for 60
years.
“This is work that
has already been taking place,” she said. “It really does come down to a matter of national
security in the end, a livable wage employment for all involved — particularly
with an emphasis on our transitioning military with the Vets4Energy program.”
