One of the miracles of our times has been the ‘energy revolution.’ Not the one involving ‘clean’ and ‘renewable’ energy. Interesting and promising as all that may be, I’m talking about the process of horizontal hydraulic fracturing. Called ‘fracking’ for short, this is a process of extracting oil or natural gas from wells using horizontal drilling and fracturing of underground rock formations. In a short amount of time, the practice led to a huge supply of relatively inexpensive fuel.
Though safe, fracking is controversial. Nobody wants a drill rig or a pump as a neighbor and some, for political reasons or because they genuinely believe so, think that fracking does pose a health risk.
Consequently, there have been attempts in the Colorado General Assembly, in the courts and now at the ballot to eliminate or restrict fracking. Though they have not been certified for the ballot, activists collected signatures to get measures on the November ballot to move control of fracking from state to local government and to increase buffer areas around well sites.
The local control movement seems to be a fraud based on the campaign contributions coming in to the main anti-fracking organization, “Yes! for Health and Safety Over Fracking.’ Seventy-three percent of the money raised by the group comes from Boulder, thirteen percent is from out of state, eleven percent is from overseas and the remaining 3 percent comes from the non-Boulder part of Colorado.
The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce is opposed to the two measures.