Wide Concern About Fracking
Proponents, who faced a well-funded opposition campaign led by Big Oil, have 30 days to appeal the decision
From an Article by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams Blog, August 29, 2016
Fracking opponents vowed to keep up the fight in Colorado on Monday after it was announced that measures seeking to restrict fracking in the state had failed to make the 2016 ballot.
Secretary of State Wayne Williams said Monday that supporters failed to collect enough “valid voter signatures” for Initiatives 75 and 78, which would have given local authorities more power to regulate fracking and implemented mandatory setbacks for oil and gas activity around schools, playgrounds, and hospitals, respectively.
As Denverite explains:
The state office looked over roughly 5,000 signatures for each of the measures, per normal procedure, and rejected about a quarter of them for being “invalid.”
The state then took that rejection rate and applied it to the total number of signatures collected, essentially knocking out a quarter of the submitted signatures and putting them below the requirement.
The state identified “several potentially forged signature lines” on Initiative 78.
According to the secretary of state’s office, proponents have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Denver District Court.
A statement from anti-fracking groups distributed Monday suggested organizers were still deciding whether to appeal.
“As we review the ruling, we want to assure our volunteers and supporters that we are as committed as ever to giving the residents of Colorado a say this November on whether their communities can regulate fracking,” said Tricia Olson, executive director of Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking.
“That fracking is dangerous to the health and safety of the state’s residents resonated loudly in every corner of the state,” she said. “Today’s announcement is not the final action on this issue as countless residents are now committed to protecting their children’s schools, parks, and homes.”
“We will not be cowed by the anti-democratic efforts of the oil and gas industry,” added Suzanne Spiegel of Frack Free Colorado.
The Colorado Independent reports:
The failure of both measures to make the ballot comes after months of a costly, contentious and occasionally disorganized grassroots campaign. Industry groups poured money into a “decline to sign” effort, and anti-fracking activists say they faced harassment from opponents while trying to gather signatures to qualify the measures for the ballot.
Furthermore, the Coloradoan reported this month, opponents raked in more than 35 times the contributions of groups backing the measures, with about 90 percent of the anti-ballot measure donations coming from energy companies.
“The ‘Decline to Sign’ campaign only served to highlight the industry’s stranglehold on the state government,” said Spiegel. “The actions of the industry have only served to galvanize supporters and we intend to fight the destructive and dangerous fracking practices that harm our health and destroy our environment.”
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a fracking supporter, was among those opposing the initiatives. He predicted last week that the measures would not make the November ballot.
Earlier this month, the New York Times wrote that if either measure should pass, “it would represent the most serious political effort yet in the United States” to stop fracking.
See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net
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‘Won’t Accept Destruction’: Global Communities Line Up to Ban Fracking
By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams Blog, August 30, 2016
Around the world, resistance is growing to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as more and more communities line up to ban the controversial fossil fuel extraction method from their lands.
On Tuesday, Victoria, Australia’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the state is set to introduce a permanent ban on all onshore unconventional gas exploration, including fracking and other methods like gas mining, making it the first state in the nation to do so.
The Department of Premier and Cabinet said, “It is clear that the Victorian community has spoken. They simply don’t support fracking.” The government will introduce legislation for the ban later this year, and the Herald Sun added that it would also extend the current moratorium until June 30, 2020.
According to one organizer, about 1.4 million hectares of land were threatened by some form of onshore gas mining like coal seam gas, underground coal gasification, and shale gas.
The government also said the ban would help protect Victoria’s agricultural sector and pacify Australian farmers’ concerns over the potential health impacts of fracking, which has been linked to cancer, birth defects, migraines, and fatigue, among other maladies.
“The fracking industry continues to lose friends all over the world. Community opposition to the fracking and unconventional gas industry has been fierce right across Australia and thankfully the Victorian Government has listened to these concerns,” said Dr. Richard Dixon, Scotland director at the environmental group Friends of the Earth. “From a global climate change perspective, it is encouraging to see fossil fuels being kept in the ground. Developed nations need to rapidly move away our reliance on these dirty, destructive energy sources and embrace clean, safe renewables.”
Ellen Sandell, the Australian Green Party’s energy spokesperson, said the decision is “a relief to communities that have fought the threat of fracking for years.”
“This decision proves the power of grassroots advocacy. Individuals have won over powerful and influential mining companies,” Sandell said, though she added that it was “disappointing the government is leaving the door open to conventional gas drilling after the next state election.”
“We won’t stop fighting until all onshore gas drilling is banned,” she said.
And just a day earlier, the climate advocacy group 350.org noted that more than 70 Brazilian cities have also approved fracking bans, culminating in a total of 72 cities prohibiting the extraction method since the launch of the No Fracking Brazil campaign in 2013.
“It is important to show the fracking entrepreneurs that people will not passively accept the destruction caused by the fossil fuel industry,” Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira, 350.org’s Latin America regional team leader, said in a statement on Monday. “We will continue empowering the local communities to resist this government’s offensive and urging public officials to invest in renewable energy projects instead of expanding fossil fuel extraction, so that we can have a sustainable, secure future.”
Source: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/30/wont-accept-destruction-global-communities-line-ban-fracking
See also: http://www.FrackCheckWV.net