Fort Collins, CO residents’ petition for hydraulic fracturing moratorium to go to vote

On August 12, 2013 the Fort Collins City Clerk’s Office certified the required number of signatures for a hydraulic fracturing moratorium petition to be sent to a vote in November. Residents petitioning the City Clerk needed 3,907 signatures to send the petition to be voted on by City Commissioners, and received over 8,000 signatures. If approved, the measure would impose a five year moratorium on drilling utilizing hydraulic fracturing in the city limits while studies were conducted to determine if hydraulic fracturing posed serious health or environmental risks to Fort Collins citizens. The moratorium would only affect Prospect Energy, the sole gas producer operating within the city limits. According to news sources, if passed, the moratorium would undo an agreement between Prospect and the Fort Collins City Council that subjected Prospect to more stringent requirements than those required by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Written by: Garrett Lent, Research Assistant
Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center
August 2013