Proposed statewide ballot measure would give Colo. communities power to ban fracking

Source: Boulder Daily Camera

A movement is underway to put a ballot measure before Colorado voters in November that would give local governments across the state the power to protect the health and safety of residents by banning or restricting oil and gas drilling and other industrial activities currently permitted by state law.

The effort, which would be an amendment to the state constitution known loosely as the "Right to Local Self-Government Act," is being pushed by the nascent Colorado Community Rights Network.

Community activist and Lafayette resident Cliff Willmeng said the group is planning to turn in final language for a ballot measure to the state in the next week or so.

That would be followed by a statewide signature collection campaign -- 86,105 valid signatures would need to be presented to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office -- to qualify the measure for the November ballot. If it passes, the act would be the first effort of its type in the country to be enacted on a statewide level, said Willmeng, who successfully led the charge in Lafayette to ban any new oil and gas drilling there.

Read more: http://www.dailycamera.com/localpolitics/ci_24833288/proposed-statewide-ballot-measure-would-give-colo-communities