According to the federal Bureau of Land Management, 95% of new wells in Colorado are fracked, but if anti-energy fractivists have their way, the only thing that will get fracked is Colorado’s economy.

After years of protesters clad in gas masks and costumes crashing city council meetings, producing shoddy documentaries, and an overall assault on oil and gas development, the industry in Colorado is fighting back.

A new group — Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development (CRED) — launched this week with the backing of two independent oil and gas companies operating in Colorado, Noble Energy Inc and Anandarko Petroleum Corp.

As the group announced in a press release:

(DENVER) – A new public education effort in Colorado began today aimed at informing the general public about the energy, economic and environmental benefits of safe and responsible oil and natural gas development. Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development (CRED) began airing radio advertisements with a simple and clear message: get the facts on fracking first before making a decision.

Typically lasting only 3-5 days, hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, fracing and/or hydro-fracking, is a brief and temporary phase, but essential to today’s advanced oil and natural gas drilling development process. Fracking increases our domestic energy production in Colorado, ultimately reducing energy costs to all consumers. The oil and natural gas produced from fracking has become an important revenue source that if eliminated, would cripple the federal, state and local governments. Without it, Colorado and the nation will not be able to realize its full energy and economic potential.

“While fracking may be a non-controversial technique in the energy industry, it has become a target, often intentionally misused, misrepresented and unfortunately substituted as a four letter word by some,” said Jon Haubert, the organization’s Communications Director.

The stakes of this fight are enormous, as a recent CU Boulder Leeds School of Business study found that the oil and natural gas industry pumped $29.6 billion into Colorado’s economy in 2012. It accounted for 110,000 high-paying jobs and $1.6 billion in tax revenue.

The group has launched three radios for its kickoff. Check them out below, replete with a voice over eerily reminiscent of the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” voiceover guy.

  • Click here to listen to “Mile High” 
  • Click here to listen to “Mile Down”
  • Click here to listen to “Above and Beyond”