Fort Collins may prevent new oil and gas drilling in city limits. What does that mean to you?
Coloradoan Conversations is the Coloradoan's opinion forum. Each week we'll pose conversation-starting questions online at Coloradoan.com/opinion, moderate online discussion, then recap the best discussion points.
This week's Coloradoan Conversation:
Nine years ago, Fort Collins voters approved a five-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, that effectively halted new oil and gas exploration in the city. With only 10 active oil and gas sites in the city, the move was more of a position statement than a halt to real impending action. But that position was successfully challenged by state oil and gas advocates who in 2016 won a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that struck down the city's moratorium.
But with the prevailing winds shifting toward increased regulation of oil and gas development in the state, Fort Collins City Council is now poised to effectively end future oil and gas development in city limits. If passed, the city's new oil and gas regulations are likely to stick, too, thanks to a 2018 change that ended the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's regulation primacy.
With the city expected to vote and likely pass the new regulations on Dec. 6, what does this change represent to you? Is it important on a symbolic or practical level? Let's unpack what this new milestone might mean to this decades-old discussion.
About the proposed regulations:Fort Collins moves toward oil and gas regulations that would prevent new drilling in city
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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: What might new Fort Collins oil and gas regulations mean to you?
