VOTERS OK LOCAL OIL, GAS PLAN

A ballot issue that gives the city more local oversight of oil and gas operations wins by a comfortable margin, but it will probably see a legal challenge.

Voters on Tuesday passed a controversial ballot issue that gives Broomfield more local oversight of oil and gas operations in the city, a move that probably will invite a legal challenge from Colorado’s large energy sector.

According to a vote tally in the mail-in election that accounts for most of the ballots cast in the city, the yes vote for Question 301 was comfortably ahead of the no vote by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent.

As of late Tuesday, nearly 42 percent of eligible electors in Broomfield — or 20,546 voters — cast a ballot.

Jennifer Dulles, a Broomfield resident who supports 301, attended a watch party at Brothers BBQ.

“I love it. I love it. Wow,” she said. “Such a strong vote for Broomfield.”

As to the question of whether the industry would sue, Dulles said, “The concept that an industry would need to sue the people over a ballot initiative that is about health and safety is incredulous.”

At a crowded watch party for the “No on 301” side at Delvickios in Broomfield, Mayor Randy Ahrens said the vote in favor of the measure “is a good barometer of how people feel about the impacts of oil and gas.”

Ahrens was prevailing in his re-election bid by the same margin that Question 301 was winning.

Question 301 is perhaps one of the most fought-over issues on a Colorado ballot in 2017. The measure attracted nearly $400,000 from groups either pushing it or trying to quash it. Of that amount, the energy extraction industry put in the lion’s share — nearly $345,000 — in both monetary and inkind contributions to defeat 301.

“It is in violation of state law as upheld by the state Supreme Court,” said Don Beezley, a “No on 301” committee member. “The result will be Broomfield spending tens of thousands of dollars or more defending lawsuits, most likely from both the state of Colorado and the operators, with apparently 100 percent likelihood of losing said suits.”

Past efforts by cities — including Fort Collins, Broomfield and Lafayette — to temporarily ban oil and gas drilling have met defeat in court. In May 2016, the state Supreme Court ruled that municipally imposed fracking bans are illegal because state power to regulate the industry trumps local efforts to do so.

While 301 doesn’t propose an oil and gas ban, its potential to restrict energy extraction activities doesn’t sit well with the industry. Last month, two industry groups sued Thornton weeks after the city passed oil and gas regulations that the industry claims conflict with state law.

Beezley called 301 the latest effort by “large, far-left, out-of-town anti-energy groups to advance their agenda at Broomfield’s expense.”

But the pro-301 side points to a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling from March that stipulates the protection of public health and the environment is “a condition that must be fulfilled” by the state before oil and gas drilling can be done.