In the least surprising news ever, two anti-fracking ballot initiatives failed to make the ballot. Initiatives 75 and 78, if passed by voters, would have crushed the oil and gas industry in Colorado at a time when the industry is just rebounding from depressed oil prices. Each initiative had to collect 98,942 valid signatures in order to make the ballot. According to the Colorado Secretary of State, here is the breakdown for each initiative:
Initiative 75
Total signatures submitted: 107,232
Projected valid signatures from the random sample: 79,634
Initiative 78
Total signatures submitted: 106,626
Projected valid signatures from the random sample: 77,109
Part of the issue with the fractivists’ efforts was that they did not have the financial backing from Tom Steyer and other environmental radicals this time around. That said, even Amendment 69 was mostly a grassroots effort, similar to this and managed to get plenty of signatures (even though people thought they were getting rid of – not expanding – Obamacare by signing).
This is an embarrassing showing for fractivists who were delighting in the idea that they would kill the oil and gas industry here in Colorado. It’s especially embarrassing that fractivists tried to turn in partially-filled boxes as a publicity stunt, but, then again, the ideas that fractivists were pushing were wildly unpopular.
Well, there’s always 2018 as fractivists are not likely to be dissuaded by a little embarrassment in 2016.