Yesterday, Colorado Rising, the anti-fracking group led by insane clown Joe Salazar, announced a lawsuit against the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission claiming that something called “forced pooling” is unconstitutional. Or something. This is a really complicated issue. Basically, when parties, also known as mineral owners, own a portion of an oil or gas deposit, they must agree to develop those minerals together, otherwise the potential exists for one mineral owner to drain the entire resource. That’s the gist.
Fractivists in Colorado prey on neighborhoods, encouraging unsuspecting homeowners to “keep it in the ground” for one reason or another, meanwhile depriving other mineral owners of their right to develop those minerals, which is like denying use of any other kind of property.
Make no mistake, PeakNation, this is simply a tactic meant to thwart oil and gas development in Colorado. Full stop.
Nonetheless, Salazar and his cronies have filed a lawsuit to change these laws claiming that this lawsuit and the proposed changes, which by the way, they couldn’t get through the legislature last year, are protecting property rights.
Here’s three things you should know about this lawsuit:
- It’s brought forth by the same people who tried to kill the oil and gas industry here in Colorado via Proposition 112. This isn’t about property rights, health, or safety, but about seeking out and destroying a single large industry in Colorado.
- While its proponents claim it protects property rights, the opposite is true. It weakens them.
- The legislature revised the laws around this last year with the input of folks of all stripes – Democrats, environmentalists, Republicans, oil and gas workers. Apparently, that wasn’t radical enough for our friends at Colorado Rising.
This is just another attempt by radical environmentalists to prevent oil and gas development in Colorado. Nothing more, nothing less.