Bipartisan Leaders Build Support for Fracking

By Peter Moore, Vital for Colorado Board Chair

 

“Our regulations are based on health and safety, not politics.” This statement made by Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer set the stage for a recent bipartisan event hosted by Vital for Colorado, a coalition of over 35,000 individuals and local industries supporting our state’s oil and natural gas producers. The event featured Colorado’s top Democrat, Governor John Hickenlooper, and top Republican, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, discussing their support for the industry and hydraulic fracturing.

 

At a time when the political parties seem deadlocked, here in Colorado we’re finding unity on such a vital topic supporting jobs and our economy. Most recently, a report by the Colorado Petroleum Council lists Colorado ahead of 12 natural gas producing OPEC nations. While Colorado has an abundant supply of natural gas, the council credits science and technical innovations for unlocking these resources.

 

For years the science has been settled, innovations fine-tuned and now politics are following suit. We’re seeing Coloradans moving past the fractious fight over fracking as more and more people see the benefits and rally for the industry.

 

The bipartisan, mainstream show of support for fracking is a defeat in and of itself, but fringe fracking opponents are losing on the ground in more consequential and substantive ways. These losses include:

 

New York was the high water mark for these fractivists. They managed to bully their governor until he caved to their demands. They tried a similar strategy aimed at California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who according to a California fractivist, pushed back saying, “Fracking can be done safely and has been happening here for 60 years…What do you want to do? Ship in all this oil from Saudi Arabia instead?”

 

Similarly in Colorado, local mainstream voices, business and community leaders, and bipartisan elected officials are standing up to these bullying tactics. Individual and business coalitions like Vital for Colorado are organizing and rallying support for a local industry that supports over 200,000 jobs and adds over $25 billion to our economy. We want you to join our coalition and be biased like Governor Hickenlooper, “Biased – in favor of the facts.”

 

###

Contact:
Rich Coolidge
[email protected]
(303) 478-4276