(Letter published 9/04/12 in Longmont Times-Call)
THERE’S QUITE a bit of information pertaining to the gas/oil drilling controversy that I think should have been more thoroughly discussed prior to the Longmont City Council’s decision to take on the state government in a big-time lawsuit.
—-Why haven’t we been told earlier that Greeley has already tried to over-regulate and the Colorado Supreme Court said no. Not good news, either, for the rules-changing initiative.
—-It has been hinted that because Longmont is a home rule municipality, the state’s authority over drilling should end at the city’s borders. But remember, the state also writes other uniform codes, including one that regulates traffic, which every municipality is required to adopt and enforce, without revision.
—-Does Longmont have an insurance back-up pool, perhaps something like the Boulder County commissioners had when they took their very expensive lawsuit against the Rocky Mountain Christian Church to the Supreme Court and lost?
—-What sort of ongoing revenues do the city of Longmont and SVV schools get from these drilling activities?
—–Longmont resident Paul Danish, author of Boulder’s Danish Plan who is now a columnist for The Boulder Weekly,* estimates that oil well drilling activity, thanks to fracking, will bring in from $3 billion to $5 billion in the next few years to boost Colorado’s economy. He calls it “Colorado’s ticket out of the recession.” He also suggests that if the well sites are as dangerous as the anti-frackers claim, then they should leave their children at home when protesting there.
—–Meanwhile, Pres. Obama quietly slips an American aircraft carrier into the Strait of Hormuz to guarantee safe delivery of Saudi oil. And all along I thought we were trying to drill our way around these real war potentialities. Not in Longmont, apparently.