Citizen activists and Colorado governor clash over municipal fracking ban

Governor Hickenlooper told citizens the state will support any lawsuit by fracking companies to kill fracking ban

No 637 Posted by fw, December 20, 2012

“The oil and gas industry on Monday hit Longmont with a lawsuit to kill voters’ recent ban on fracking within city limits. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association contends the ban is illegal because it denies mineral owners the right to develop their property and blocks operations that state laws allow … Longmont leaders vowed to fight back” —Loveland Reporter Herald

Colorado oil and gas industry sues to kill Longmont fracking ban by Bruce Finley of the Denver Post, published in the Loveland Reporter Herald, December 17, 2012

The oil and gas industry on Monday hit Longmont with a lawsuit to kill voters’ recent ban on fracking within city limits.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association [COGA] contends the ban is illegal because it denies mineral owners the right to develop their property and blocks operations that state laws allow. COGA has asked Weld County district court to invalidate the resolution passed by Longmont voters.

“We recognize and understand that the citizens of Longmont are concerned about the safety of their environment,” COGA president Tisha Schuller said in a written statement.

“We hope that the lawsuit can be quickly resolved,” Schuller continued, so that industry and the city can cooperate “to address those concerns in a way that does not illegally preclude the safe and responsible development of oil and gas reserves.”

Longmont leaders vowed to fight back.

“We will vigorously defend our charter and the will of the people,” City Council woman Katie Witt said.

The voters on Nov. 6. changed the city charter to prohibit fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, and the storage of fracking waste in the city. Energy companies frack by blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to loosen oil and gas held in rock.

Colorado residents elsewhere along the Front Range also are pushing to ban oil and gas operations inside municipal limits. Local governments face intensifying pressures as drilling expands close to communities. They’ve tried to respond to constituents by toughening health and safety regulations that could withstand legal challenges.

However, when Longmont’s council passed tougher regulations this year, Gov. John Hickenlooper directed state attorneys to sue the city, challenging local authority.

“The governor believes Longmont’s fracking ban violates the law and we aren’t surprised that the city has been sued,” the governor’s spokesman, Eric Brown, said.

State lawmakers have established the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to simultaneously regulate and promote development of oil and gas resources. COGA’s lawsuit aims to set a precedent.

Hickenlooper on Dec. 6 said the state will not sue Longmont again over the action of voters but that it will support any lawsuit by companies.

SEE ALSO

• U.S. local and national organizations join forces in Washington to launch anti-fracking movement, posted August 4, 2012. A coalition of organizations is engaged in a coordinated, multifaceted nationwide campaign to fracture the fracking industry juggernaut. Judging from the article, the planning so far is impressive, the demands clear and concise.

Fair Use Notice: This blog, Citizen Action Monitor, may contain copyrighted material that may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material, published without profit, is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues. It is published in accordance with the provisions of the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada ruling and its six principle criteria for evaluating fair dealing

US Center for Biological Diversity sues Bureau of Land Management for failing to assess fracking risks

Alleges fracking in California threatens to unleash damaging new drilling boom

No 558 Posted by fw August 30, 2012

For immediate release, Aug. 29, 2012

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Endangered Species From Fracking in California

Risky Drilling Technique Threatens Condor, Other Wildlife on Monterey Shale

SAN FRANCISCO – August 29 – The Center for Biological Diversity launched federal litigation today challenging the Bureau of Land Management [BLM] for failing to properly evaluate hydraulic fracturing’s threats to endangered species on public land leased for oil and gas activities in California. Fracking has already been documented in Kern, Monterey and seven other California counties that are home to more than 100 endangered and threatened species.

In a formal notice of intent to sue under the Endangered Species Act, the Center showed that the arrival of fracking in California threatens to unleash a new drilling boom that would severely damage much of the last remaining habitat for some of California’s most endangered species, including California condors and San Joaquin kit foxes. Yet the BLM continues to issue oil and gas leases and drilling permits, all the while relying on outdated wildlife analyses that don’t factor in the dangers of the new technology, which involves blasting millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and dangerous chemicals, deep into the earth.

“A fracking boom could push some of California’s most beloved endangered species over the edge,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center’s public lands director. “Yet the federal government is leasing out large tracts of our public lands for drilling with no real consideration of the risks fracking development poses to the California condor and other imperiled animals. That’s bad for wildlife, and it’s a tremendous breach of trust.”

Recent advancements in fracking techniques are driving a growing interest in the Monterey Shale, a geological formation holding an estimated 14 billion barrels of oil — 40 percent of U.S. shale-oil reserves.

Studies and reports from other states where fracking is already common suggest links between fracking and a wide range of threats to wildlife. Fracking fluid often contains dangerous chemicals, including some that are known to cause cancer and disrupt hormonal and reproductive development. Fracking wastewater is often stored above ground, creating the risk of contact with wildlife and surface-water contamination. Fracking also requires enormous amounts of water, posing a threat to rivers vital to California steelhead trout and other fish species.

“Not only do dangerous chemicals used in fracking pose a direct threat to wildlife, but fracking is making important habitat areas, where it was previously not cost-effective to drill, a prime new target for oil companies,” said Cummings. “Our government needs to protect endangered species habitat, not auction it off to be fracked by oil companies.”

Today’s 60-day notice of intent to sue is required before a lawsuit can be filed to compel the BLM to comply with the Endangered Species Act.

ABOUT THE CENTER — The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 375,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. We believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature – to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.

Fair Use Notice: This blog, Citizen Action Monitor, may contain copyrighted material that may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material, published without profit, is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues. It is published in accordance with the provisions of the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada ruling and its six principle criteria for evaluating fair dealing

U.S. local and national organizations join forces in Washington to launch anti-fracking movement

Rallies to follow in Albany, Philadelphia and other states and regions affected by fracking

No 540 Posted by fw, August 4, 2012

I will be watching with considerable interest to see just how effective well-trained participants of a coalition of organizations engaged in a coordinated, multifaceted nationwide campaign movement will be in fracturing the fracking industry juggernaut. Judging from the article that follows, the planning so far is impressive, the demands clear and concise. Bravo!

As a steadfast advocate for exactly this kind of multidimensional campaign strategy, if it fails to dent the armor of Big Oil and Gas over the next couple of years, then what? Perhaps CELDF’s legal strategy will be our next best hope.

Turning to the story of the Washington rally –

5,000 People Unite in DC to Protest Fracking  by Stephanie Penn Spear, Huffington Post, July 30, 2012

More than 5,000 people from all over the nation, and various parts of the world, including Australia, united on July 28 on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol demanding Congress take immediate action to stop fracking. After the rally that began at 2 p.m., rally participants marched for more than one hour, stopping at the headquarters of the America’s Natural Gas Alliance and American Petroleum Institute.

People impacted by fracking in their communities joined forces with 136 local and national organizations to call on Congress to Stop the Frack Attack and protect Americans from the dangerous impacts of fracking.

Big names on hand for kick-off event

Rally speakers included, Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org; Josh Fox, producer of Gasland; Calvin Tillman, former mayor of Dish, Texas; Allison Chin, board president of the Sierra Club, and community members from swing states affected by fracking.

McKibben: “Fracking is the worst possible idea”

“As the increasingly bizarre weather across the planet and melting ice on Greenland makes clear, at this point we’ve got no choice but to keep fossil fuels underground. Fracking to find more is the worst possible idea,” said McKibben.

Fox: “We know we can run the world on renewable energy”

“The amazing thing about this problem is that there’s a solution… We know that we can run the world on renewable energy. We know that we can run the world on the wind. And this weekend, we have a reminder that we can run the world on the sun,” said Fox.

Coalition determined to make fracking a key part of the 2012 election

This weekend’s rally was part of the first national event to stop the frack attack. The rally is the culmination of three days of training to further escalate the movement to stop abuse by the fossil fuel industry. Large groups from swing states including Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Carolina attended the training and rally to make sure that fracking is a key part of the upcoming election.

State legislatures colluding with Big Oil and Gas to get hands on dirty campaign dollars

“Just weeks ago in North Carolina, our legislature ripped up decades of groundwater protections for rural drinking water, in order to allow fracking and invite in dirty industry campaign dollars. So we add our voices to the national movement calling on Congress to protect our homes, our drinking water and our health by repealing the 2005 oil and gas exemptions,” said Hope Taylor, a farmer near Durham and executive director of Clean Water for NC.

Rally participants have three key demands:

1. an end to dirty and dangerous fracking;
2. closure of the seven legal loopholes that let frackers in the oil and gas industry ignore the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act; and
3. full enforcement of existing laws to protect families and communities from the effects of fracking.

Tillman: “We are tired of being run over by the out-of-control oil and gas industry.”

“It is time for us to come together as a people and let the law makers that work for us know that we are tired of being run over by the out-of-control oil and gas industry,” said Tillman.

Rally march targets major oils and gas trade associations

While at the headquarters of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, rally organizers delivered six jugs of contaminated water in hazmat suits and then headed to the American Petroleum Institute where a 20-foot-high mock oil rig was smashed to the ground.

More events to follow

This event was a launching point for the movement, and will be followed by events in Albany, NY on Aug. 25, Philadelphia on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, and subsequent events in other states and regions affected by fracking.

Fair Use Notice: This blog, Citizen Action Monitor, may contain copyrighted material that may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material, published without profit, is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues. It is published in accordance with the provisions of the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada ruling and its six principle criteria for evaluating fair dealing