Anti-fracking initiatives fail to make November’s ballot

Colorado’s secretary of state announced Monday that two petitions to put anti-fracking initiatives on November’s ballot didn’t get enough signatures.

Secretary of State Wayne Williams said projections estimate the petitions were 20,000 signatures short of the number required to make it to the ballot.

“We tell people they want to have a cushion [of extra signatures] of about 25 percent. In this case, they only had 7 percent,” said Williams.

In addition, Williams said there were signatures on a petition that appeared to be forged.

“There were several signatures that seemed to be the same back to back. Different names but appearing to be the same writing. So we referred that to the attorney general,” said Williams.

Williams said the person who collected those signatures could be in trouble.

One of the initiatives would prevent fracking within 2,500 feet of homes or inhabited structures. The other initiative would give local government more power to regulate energy development.

“We had huge odds that we were up against,” said Lisa Trope, a local organizer for Food and Water Watch, an organization that favors the anti-fracking initiatives.

Still, she is proud of the ground her organization gained in the fight against fracking.

“I think we scared the oil and gas industry a little bit,” said Trope. “We are going to continue to push the envelope.”

Dan Haley with Colorado Oil and Gas was pleased with the news that the initiatives failed to reach the ballot.

“Clearly this is a good day for the oil and gas industry in Colorado but we really feel like this is a good day for Colorado in general,” said Haley. “They gave people bad information and they tried to scare them. What we are seeing now with these things failing to make the ballot is Coloradans are understanding that this is a good industry and they are happy to have it in our state,” said Haley.

Food and Water Watch can fight the secretary of state’s decision. Trope said the organization is still deciding whether it will do so.