Colorado State Supreme Court Holds Hearings on Fracking Rights

Environmental groups and activists of all ages from across Colorado gathered in front of the State Supreme Court on Wednesday, Dec. 9 in response to a lawsuit filed by the oil and gas industry against Longmont’s ban and Fort Collins’ moratorium on fracking within their communities. The Colorado State Supreme court held its first hearings Wednesday on the dispute between community rights to ban hydraulic fracturing and operating rights of the oil and gas industry. The court’s decision could potentially set a new precedent that would impact dozens of similar past cases. Story and images: Tony White

“We hope that the court will recognize that local control should take precedence over the economics and the profit motives, whether they be of the industry, or for that matter, the State,” said Kay Fissinger, president of Our Longmont.

Our Longmont was one of the several environmental groups that were present and boisterous on the steps of the courthouse in downtown Denver on Wednesday in support of local control. Fissinger addressed the crowd of supporters and media, saying that dealing with the environmental impacts from fracking is larger than a partisan issue and that Colorado’s policies regulating fracking are dangerously outdated.

“This is a people issue. It has never been a partisan issue. The world has changed. Fracking has changed. Oil and gas drilling has changed phenomenally. This is not your grandfather’s fracking.”