Colorado has never had a king, we don’t think we’ll start now

Fractivists shouldn’t kid themselves, Eli Stokols’ report for KDVR signals the high-water point of their fracking-ban movement.  It is all downhill for them from here.

Eco-extremists, Lefties, and fractivists (usually, all found in the same person) were quick to wet themselves with glee yesterday as Stokols reported on a poll that showed strong support for their so-called “local control” initiatives:

According to the statewide poll by RBI Strategies, which is running Polis’s campaign, 51 percent of Coloradans are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, by local communities than is currently provided by the state.

Quick, someone get vulnerable liberal Senator Mark Udall on the phone; a man who has been reduced to hocking gimmicks to save his political ass would surely hop on a popular measure like this to boost his popularity (especially since his BFF hearts this issue).  Maybe Andy Romanoff, the carpet-bagger from downtown, could use this issue to woo his new neighbors?

Our guess?  No Democratic candidate is signing up for these “popular” initiatives (we’d be so lucky).  Why?  These initiatives are about to get politically shelled back to the Stone Age.

A bipartisan coalition, Coloradans for Responsible Reform (a group that has never been on the losing side of a ballot measure), reassembled with prominent Democrats and Republicans uniting together to oppose the fracking bans.  Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar are the two leading Democrats.  While, not wanting to be outdone, former Democratic Governor Roy Romer was quoted as saying, “We shouldn’t spend our time on these stupid ballot measures.”

When we turn to the economics of it, a University of Colorado study estimated a fracking ban would result in 68,000 fewer jobs for Colorado, and an $8 billion dollar hit to Colorado’s GDP within the first five years alone.

Meanwhile, fractivists themselves can’t keep their stories straight when it comes to fracking and the environment.  One day, they are praising natural gas for a 10% reduction from 2005 carbon emissions (an astounding number only replicated by the widespread implementation of nuclear power in the 70’s), while the next day, they’re decrying the horrors of fracking.  One day, they are calling for the expansion of fracking in Poland, while the next day, saying fracking is inherently unsafe and only an absolute ban will suffice.  Indeed, even the threats against health fractivists are so shrill about have been dismissed again and again by actual scientists.

Fractivists are banging their fists against the table because the evidence is not with them.  Come November, a broad bipartisan juggernaut of a coalition will make sure all of Colorado knows that.  Can someone please get Udall and Romanoff on the phone; we’d sure like to know if they are as confidant as their liberal cohorts are on this issue.