Update: unfortunately, Fort Collins reversed this decision in a third vote, not wanting to be sued.
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Good for you, Fort Collins!
After being threatened by a lawsuit from Colorado’s governor, Fort Collins went ahead and stood its ground. In the final vote yesterday, the City Council voted to uphold the fracking ban 5-2, and the ban is now final.
The vote tells the state to stay out of local decisions, in this case their right to regulate the oil and gas industry.
"The Fort Collins City Council stood up to the bullies – Governor Hickenlooper and the Big Oil and gas industry – to protect citizens and their health and property by banning fracking in the city," says Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action, which is working with other cities on similar bans. "People are taking charge of their democracy, wrestling it away from powerful special interests – Longmont was first, Fort Collins second, who will be third?"
John Hickenlooper, in a televised interview, says he will direct the state to sue Fort Collins – and any other town or city – to force them to overturn bans on oil or gas drilling.
Colorado’s Oil and Gas Association also plans to sue, after apologizing and attempting to retract a fraudulent petition supposedly signed by 55 local businesses who were against the ban.
Most of Colorado sits on top of oil shale.
Fracking is being loudly touted as a key to US energy independence, but new research shows that isn’t true.
In fact, it’s leading to a bubble that will quickly crash, but only after the US is peppered with tens of thousands of expired wells. Wall Street is heavily implicated in the fracking boom.
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