Weekend Edition October 17-19, 2014

Colorado, Summer, 2014

Fracking Diaries (counterpunch)
by PHILLIP DOE
The headline should have read, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and U.S. Repr
esentative Jared Polis deny public vote on fracking with last minute deal giving
backyard fracking the continued green light in Colorado.
Instead Lynn Bartels, reporting in the hedge fund-owned Denver Post, gushed that
a grand compromise had been struck. We were to believe from her front-page sto
ry that while the negotiating might not have been fully worthy of Talleyrand (a
man once described as a turd wrapped in silk), it was surely ballpark, for all t
he political rainmakers in the state agreed. Something great had happened. The
nasty, unwashed public with its concerns about backyard fracking had been silen
ced once again.
Bartels has the tendency to turn political reporting into society page puffery,
where all the political elite are portrayed in gauzy society colors, not as slau
ghter-house workers collecting floor renderings to feed a growingly rebellious,
democracy-demanding public. So, naturally, Bartels missed the real event.
In a nutshell, Polis, the 3rd richest man in the U.S. House, had agreed to pull
two initiatives he had bankrolled. They were designed to offer some minimum con
trols on fracking. He did not think it necessary to seek consent from the more
than 100,000 registered voters who had signed up to get the initiatives on the f
all ballot. Neither did he deign to consult with the countless volunteers who h
ad worked to get the required voter signatures. In return, the Governor agreed t
o establish a blue ribbon committee to study the fracking issues. Yep, that s the g
rand compromise stripped to an irreducible minimum. As a friend of mine said, Po
lis as negotiator makes Neville Chamberlain look like Attila the Hun.
It is important to remind readers that the initiative process, or direct democra
cy as it s sometimes called, is an important feature of Colorado s constitution. It
was adopted at the constitutional convention as the people s protection against u
nresponsive or overreaching centralized government. It has been under assault b
y the ruling class ever since.
One of Polis initiatives would have required 2000-foot drilling setbacks from dwe
llings. This, the industry said, would make fracking impossible and cause the l
oss of thousands of jobs to state workers. When the going gets tough the indust
ry always trots out the jobs gambit. But oil and gas development is a boom and
bust business that brings its skilled workforce with it.
Most emphatically, Snuffy Smith is not going to be hired off the streets of down
town Denver to run giant industrial rigs costing millions of dollars. Like the
NFL, it s not a feel good industry. In keeping with this obvious truth, the Depar
tment of Commerce reports that mining in the state, which includes oil and gas d
evelopment, accounts for less than 1 percent of state employment and about 2 per
cent of personal income.
And just weeks ago, the Department of Commerce announced that, nationwide, busin
ess activity in metro areas is the primary source of growth in GDP. Yet, this w
as reported differently in the Denver Post: Oil and gas exploration in Mountain W
est spurs GDP growth nationwide, said the paper. The article then went on to poi
nt out that Greeley, in Weld County, the epicenter of oil exploration in the sta
te, had experienced a growth in GDP of 10 percent, to $9.5 billion. In 2013, Co
lorado s GDP was $294 billion. Greeley s growth represents about three tenths of on
e percent in the state s GDP. This is perhaps significant locally, but not statew

ide.
Many economists argue that growth from renewables would be even greater, perhaps
more than double, if blessed with the same subsidies and preferences, or, even
better, allowed to compete on a level playing field. The impact in direct jobs
would be inestimably greater, since they would be local and permanent in nature.
Moreover, this sort of mindless cheerleading of the oil business by the Post, wh
ich has reportedly reduced its workforce of reporters by 30 percent since the he
dge fund takeover, evaporates when one begins to add in the pollution Colorado s f
ront-range endures from fracking. By the industry s own admission, at least 55 pe
rcent of all front-range VOCs, volatile organic compounds, are from oil and gas
operations, mostly in Weld County, but the impacts are felt on every major city
on the northern-front range, including Denver, where ozone contamination from VO
Cs exceeds federal health limits.
Add to this the loss of billions of gallons of fresh water used and polluted eac
h year. The poisoned liquid byproduct, of undetermined character and quality, i
s then forced, under pressure, into the public s deep groundwater reservoirs witho
ut regard to the potential long-term impacts. Out of sight, out of mind.
Clearly this is not a sustainable economic model, one in which everybody and eve
rything has a chance to benefit. No, fracking is one in which the vast majority
pay a huge cost in public health and environmental wellbeing so that a few can
prosper from their private property rights.
The second Polis initiative would have reasserted the rights of local communitie
s to self-determination, or home rule, if you will. This right is already guara
nteed explicitly in the state constitution. It states in part that the people of
all municipalities have the full right of self-government in both local and munici
pal matters and nothing shall ever be construed to deny them any right or power es
sential or proper to the full exercise of such right. Article XX, section 6h.
Is there anything more local than 8 to 16 oil wells in your backyard or in a par
k or school playground? Still, with regard to oil and gas development, the stat
e legislature, apparently unable to read or reason, went rogue and took these ri
ghts away from the people and gave them to state government through legislation.
The state supreme court lined up to back this legislation. Home rule is supre
me except when it comes to oil reasoned they. The constitution must bow to the
realities of oil, jobs, and money.
This ugly piece of Colorado political history is the source of much of the unres
t in the Colorado cities threatened by the oil invasion.
As is well known, five Colorado front-range cities have passed bans or moratoria
. Each is threatened by lawsuits, from both the state and the industry acting i
n tandem against the rights of the people. Collectively these cities, though am
ong the larger in the state, represent a small fraction of the state s land mass.
In fact, if all of the incorporated cities and towns in the state were to enact
bans through the initiative process, less than 2 percent of the state s land base
would be off limits to the industry.
Longmont s ban, which is the oldest, was also the first of several to be recently
ruled illegal by local courts. The judge, Dolores Mallard, stated in open court
that she thought the issue above her pay grade. Judges in Boulder County where s
he sits, enjoy a salary and benefits package worth about $210,000 annually. Scr
ewing up her courage, she ruled against the people of Longmont, saying that, Whil
e the court appreciates the Longmont citizens sincerely held beliefs about risks
to their health and safety, the court does not find this is sufficient to comple
tely devalue the state s interest.

Still, she stayed her razzle-dazzle judgment until the city could appeal, which
it has done by unanimous vote of its city council. Two other cities are not for
behind.
So what now? Well, because the legislature will not allow initiatives on the ba
llot every year, the people will have to wait until 2016 to take on oil and gas
in any grassroots effort through the ballot box. But that effort is already beg
inning.
I am cosponsoring a public trust initiative that would be added to the state con
stitution requiring all levels of government to protect the public s air, land, an
d water against substantial impairment, with the requirement that the best scien
ce available be employed in all permitting processes. It would also turn the ta
bles on proof, the corporate trump card, by requiring petitioner s to demonstrate
their proposals would not unduly harm the environment, rather than the other way
around, as is now the case.
This same initiative was denied ballot approval by the state s supreme court this
last summer because my cosponsor had to leave town for her aunt s funeral the day
of a rehearing called by objectors, the oil and irrigation interests. We found
a co-sponsor substitute for the hearing as the Secretary of State s procedures al
low, but the court ruled the Secretary had exceeded his authority, since the leg
islature did not specifically allow for a substitute. You can t make this stuff u
p.
Others are readying home rule initiatives to strengthen local control, which sho
uldn t really be necessary given the longstanding but abused constitutional guaran
tees.
As to Polis and Hickenlooper, Polis has done himself major damage. He is almost
certain to face primary opposition in 2016 since cities with well over half the
voting population in his district had already voted to ban or delay fracking wi
thin their city limits.
Still, he did face the angered citizenry days after his perfidy. He brought his
mother along whose surname name he uses and whose business partner he is. His
father s surname is Schutz, which offered an activist the risible observation that
he understood why he picked his mother s maiden name, for otherwise he would have
been for evermore known as Schutz the Putz.
His apology to those assembled was eerily tone deaf. He said he had stepped into
a void and tried to move the issue forward. Next time we do this, it ll be a peop
le-powered initiative.
It is unlikely most people will leave their future to Pol
is next time. Like Louis Prima made famous in song, Next time? There ll be no nex
t time.
Speculation is rampant as to why he betrayed his promise to push the initiatives
. Some say he was pressured by the prospect of a Republican victory in both the
Governor and Senate races. This brain-trust strategy may have backfired as th
ese two races have narrowed since the grand compromise. The Democratic base, wh
ich is centered in these fracking-threatened, northern front-range cities appare
ntly didn t get the message. Indeed, the postmortems of this election may indicat
e that support for fracking by those at the top of the ballot kept many Democrat
ic faithful and independents from voting for them.
The more cynical think his initiatives were simply a Trojan horse devised to dro
wn out grassroots initiatives. That he never intended to carry through.
It is more likely Polis got the word from the Dem establishment in Washington th

at his continued pursuit of the two initiatives would ruin his chances of becomi
ng the head of the DCCC. A post he apparently prizes. Rich people shaking down
other rich people for money has in-group appeal, apparently. For sure, it woul
d allow him to follow in the illustrious footsteps of Rahm Emmanuel and Tony Coe
hlo.
Hickenlooper seems to be coming progressively unhinged. Just the other day he s
aid the public was wrong in voting for marijuana legalization since we couldn t be
sure yet of marijuana s health consequences. What? The scientific evidence over
whelmingly supports the assertion that fracking is a health threat to local popu
lations, and the planet itself, yet he forges on against moratoria that would al
low for a reasoned assessment of fracking s impact on the very people he has taken
a constitutional oath to protect.
That he should find himself in a razor thin race against Republican factotum, Bo
b Beauprez, borders on the bizarre, the almost unbelievable. Beauprez, in the f
irst governor s debate, stated he thinks the state should appropriate all federal
land in the state, including several national parks. This of course would be un
constitutional, but in his best Cliven Bundy, sagebrush rebel impersonation he s
aid, This is a fight we have to wage.
Speculation is that he would offer much of
the land up for sale, perhaps to the oil and gas industry. That industry, he c
laims, is being choked to death by Hickenlooper regulations? Apparently, he wou
ld free it to become God s mighty engine of national prosperity. He has also writ
ten that climate change is, at best, a hoax or, at worst, the religious ravings
of fevered environmentalists.
Hickenlooper at least believes in climate change, as I suspect do most, if not a
ll, of the people he handpicked to be on his blue ribbon committee, but that com
mittee is probably DOA. It has no representative from the five cities with mora
toria or bans. Most of these cities, including the two state university cities,
are bedrock Democratic, or were until their 470,000 votes were spurned in the s
election process.
Moreover, it is unlikely anything positive will result.
e are no good people on the committee. There are, some
ake up the majority, and by the governor s instructions
eceive a two-thirds majority. But even then they would
ive gauntlet for further hazing.

This is not to say ther

topnotch, but they don t m
any recommendations must r
have to run the legislat

Note, for the past two years Joann Ginal, a state representative from Ft Collins
has introduced legislation to conduct a survey of documented medical reports fr
om people claiming adverse health effects from fracking. Though extremely modes
t in range and intent, it has twice failed, thanks to the governor s lack of suppo
rt and the surprising number of troglodytes in her own party who have been won o
ver by the industry or the reporting in the Denver Post.
The Post itself is reportedly up for sale by the New York hedge fund, Alden Glob
al Capital LLC. It is still hemorrhaging money even with sever reductions in pa
yroll, the benefit of regular full page adds from the industry, and the once mon
thly 6-page section called, Energy and the Environment, which is made to look li
ke a legitimate section of the paper, not the paid industry propaganda it is in
truth.
The ancient philosopher wrote that character is destiny. If this be true, Polis
and Hickenlooper are destined to spend eternity together, voiceless in that mys
terious place where even the sun is silent.
PHILLIP DOE lives in Colorado. He can be reached at:ptdoe@comcast.net