Another 2,500 setback initiative
The climate activist groups 350.org and Colorado Rising, a coalition of grassroots groups and activists who worked on 2016’s unsuccessful ballot initiative to amend the Colorado constitution with mandatory 2,500-foot setbacks for oil and gas operations in Colorado, are preparing to launch what they described as “a successful ballot initiative effort in 2018 armed with all the knowledge we acquired last year.”
In an email sent today, 350.org said in 2018 it will run a statewide statutory ballot initiative that “protects public health and safety from fracking.”
Initiative seeks to establish 2,500-foot buffer zones around homes, schools, and “other vulnerable areas, including water sources and playgrounds”
The email said that ballot language had been submitted “to establish buffer zones of 2,500 feet between new oil and gas operations and occupied buildings, such as homes and schools, and other vulnerable areas, including water sources and playgrounds.”
This initiative sounds very similar to the failed Nov. 2016 setback initiative, Initiative 78, which also sought to limit oil and gas development in the state by amending the Colorado constitution to impose a 2,500-foot setback. The initiative failed to achieve enough valid signatures to make the general ballot in 2016.
The proposed 2016 ballot language for Initiative 78, which subsequently failed to meet the Secretary of State’s verified signature requirement, read as follows:
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning a statewide setback requirement for new oil and gas development facilities, and, in connection therewith, changing setback requirements to require any new oil and gas development facility in the state to be located at least 2,500 feet from the nearest occupied structure or other specified or locally designated area and authorizing the state or a local government to require new oil and gas development facilities to be located more than 2,500 feet from the nearest occupied structure?
Colorado statute places regulation over oil and gas, including permitting and rules enforcement, exclusively in the hands of the state agency Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). The current setbacks are generally 500 to 1,500 feet from occupied structures.
According to the email sent Dec. 27, 2017 by 350.org, “A 2,500 foot buffer zone (almost ½ mile) is strategically based on polling and health studies that show harmful effects, such as cancer, difficulty breathing, low birth weights and birth defects, on people living within a ½ mile of fracking operations (especially vulnerable populations like children and the elderly) and public safety data regarding the impact zones of explosions, fires, leaks, and plumes. This will provide much needed protection for all of our communities. (In contrast, a local control initiative would only protect a few select communities.)”
The group referenced a study by the Colorado School of Public Health that looked at possible air contamination at oil and gas drilling sites.
The group said the backers of the 2018 initiative are hiring a signature gathering firm “with a long history of success to supplement volunteers’ efforts.”
Climate groups plan extensive grassroots activity in advance of ballot initiative circulation
“Prior to circulation of the required printed ballot initiatives,” according to 350.org, “we are launching an online Pledge to Sign campaign so we can begin to tangibly build support and awareness for the initiative, educate people, gather volunteers, recruit endorsers, and accept donations in advance of launching the signature gathering campaign. Our goal is to recruit tens of thousands of online pledges before we ever hit the streets with the printed ballot petitions. We are creating a statewide network of volunteers to help with signature gathering, outreach, fundraising and education, with the help of a growing list of endorsing partners.”
350.org said in its email that in 2016 its coalition effort had “gathered over 210,000 signatures for two statewide ballot initiatives to protect our communities from fracking. We accomplished this in just over 3 months, despite $14M spent in opposition from the fracking industry. We missed placement of the initiatives on the statewide ballot because the Secretary of State’s Office rejected too many of the signatures for pedantic reasons, dropping our petition signers just below the required number.”
Below are the signature counts from the Colorado Secretary of State for the groups’ initiative 78 setback effort in 2016:
Petition verification summary for No. 78 (setback initiative):
| Total number of qualified signatures submitted | 106,626 |
| 5% of qualified signatures submitted (random sample) | 5,332 |
| Total number of entries accepted (valid) from the random sample | 3,856 |
| Total number of entries rejected (invalid) from the random sample | 1,476 |
| Number of projected valid signatures from the random sample | 77,109 |
| Total number of signatures required for placement on ballot | 98,492 |
| Projected percentage of required valid signatures | 78.29% |
Just short of a recession: CU
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission produced a study last year that detailed that if Amendment 78 had gotten on the ballot in November 2016, and if it were to be successfully voted into force during the general election and became an amendment to the Colorado constitution, 90% of the surface area of the state would be prohibited from new drilling and activity. The study calculated that Colorado could lose $14.5 billion, 104,000 jobs and suffer reduced GDP if ballot initiative 78 had passed.
The University of Colorado said the economic result to the state, if initiative 78 had successfully completed the signature gathering process and been voted in as a constitutional amendment during the general election, would be “just short of a recession.”
