The Denver Business Journal reports this morning that oil and gas investor Jared Polis, who in the last couple months has also taken on the curious role of Colorado’s frack banner-in-chief, is trying to force energy companies to give in to a new dump of anti-development rules and regulations. He and his Boulder-based accomplice, Democrat Majority Leader Dicky Lee Hullinghorst, are locked in negotiations with industry officials to head off a ballot fight, the Denver Business Journal reports.“Hullinghorst has said for several months that she hoped the Legislature could pass a bill that might persuade authors of several proposed ballot initiatives to withdraw their measures… Congressman Jared Polis is backing several measures that would allow local governments to force greater setbacks from well sites and even ban fracking, a process used to extract natural gas from the ground. And another group has proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow local governments to ban any for-profit businesses that they view as contrary to cities’ values.”
A Colorado group pushing a ballot measure to allow local governments to ban fracking might soon be getting a windfall from California billionaire Tom Steyer, whose representatives visited the state last week and met those organizing the campaign.
Steyer, a hedge fund manager and an environmentalist, has pledged to spend $50 million of his own money on candidates and causes fighting against climate change. He also vowed to raise an equal amount from other donors.
Advisers to Steyer’s nonprofit, NexGen Climate — which has an affiliated super PAC — visited Colorado last week and met with representatives of Local Control Colorado, according to Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E).
KDVR‘s Eli Stokols reported in a long feature in Politico that there was a significant effort by Democratic power brokers in the state to get these anti-fracking measures off the ballot, for fear of what it would do to Senator Mark Udall and Governor John Hickenlooper’s chances for re-election.
Too bad nobody told Steyer. The Democrats are a disorganized mess of special interest money these days. Jared Polis probably thought he called the shots in Colorado, but today, we find out that Tom Steyer disagrees.
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