EDITORIAL: Real answer for fracking questions gives control to state AND local government

It’s time for some reality to enter the debate over whether local towns, cities and counties can or should regulate gas and oil development, and especially fracking, in their communities.

Of course they can. And of course they should.

The debate over just which government jurisdiction should be in charge of which kind of oil and gas mining regulation moved to the University of Denver this week. There Gov. John Hickenlooper and Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones debated the implications of blasting water, sand and chemicals underground to help move gas and oil to the surface for mining.

Hickenlooper said his office will sue cities like Fort Collins and Longmont, which have passed outright bans on all petroleum drilling and fracking within their cities’ limits. Hickenlooper says state lawmakers have ensured that only the state can make petroleum mining rules — all of them. Officials from cities like Fort Collins say they have every right to regulate all business and industry activity inside city boundaries.

Back down. First off, Fort Collins and Longmont were unwise to enact outright bans on petroleum mining. Each city is large enough and rural enough to have existing and historical drilling sites, and the potential for more.

Aurora, too, has prime sites for such drilling operations. Most of them are miles from any human’s home.

Here’s the reality. Many Colorado residents equate modern petroleum mining with Depression-era wildcatter movies. Techniques used now and the pumping equipment left behind to do the work look nothing like what most people would suspect. And the business of fracking is an old one, going back decades.

There is real concern about the effect of fracking on water and other parts of the environment, but those are federal and state concerns that need to be duly addressed. State officials need to be able to determine whether underground conditions warrant exceptional or unique mitigation, or even prohibitions. A fracking operation among a host of nearby water wells is very different than one in the middle of nowhere, and Colorado still has plenty of nowhere.

As to whether state drilling regulations can address every community in the state, that’s unrealistic. All industry and zoning questions in Aurora and every other Colorado community beg exceptions and adjustments. And most communities are like Aurora, in that city officials give far more weight to the concerns of homeowners and residents rather than to businesses. It’s a simple philosophy: Residents literally have to live with the city’s business and zoning decisions.

That means cities like Fort Collins should have the ability to veto a state-approved project if they can show real harm to another resident. If a city is capricious in their regulations or vetoes, courts can remedy that. The result in these cases most of the time is mitigation, extra screening, extra testing, extra care.

Despite the ability of modern drillers to mitigate the impact on drilling sites, it’s an industrial and potentially dangerous business. And it’s one that needs local oversight, especially in densely populated areas.

State lawmakers need to revisit the issue before the end of the session to ensure that Colorado stands behind this important industry, stands behind protecting residents and the environment, and stands behind a hallmark of Colorado government: local control.