Colorado Petroleum Council challenges effort to limit oil, gas development

While supporters of Colorado Initiative 97 — a ballot effort to require a 2,500-foot setback from all new oil and gas development in the state — announced Monday that they have submitted sufficient signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State, the state’s petroleum industry is criticizing the action.

The Colorado Petroleum Council claims that passage of Initiative 97 would ban 85 percent of Colorado’s natural gas and oil development on non-federal lands and damage the state’s employment and economic efforts. The initiative is “ill-conceived,” the council said in a statement, as the natural gas and oil industry supports 233,000 jobs and $31.4 billion the industry supplies the state. Colorado could lose approximately 100,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in tax revenue by 2030, according to a study released by Common Sense Policy Roundtable.

“It would decimate the future of the natural gas and oil industry and wreak havoc on our state’s economy,” Tracee Bentley, executive director of the Colorado Petroleum Council, said. “Should Initiative 97 qualify for the ballot, there will not be an issue that would have a more devastating impact on the statewide ballot this year. This disastrous proposal will negatively impact every Coloradan’s pocketbook, will reduce the quality of life that we value in Colorado, and cost thousands of jobs.”

Supporters of the initiative argue that they want to push industry operations further back from their homes for safety reasons while also preserving the environment.

Currently, oil and gas development in Colorado is required to be at least 500 feet from a home and 1,000 feet from schools.