Oil and gas money fuels push for Amendment 74

The Colorado Farm Bureau and the oil and gas industry have forged a $3 million alliance this election cycle.

The oil and gas industry is the financial force behind the ballot measure to change the state’s constitution and allow property owners to seek compensation when market values drop because of government action. Meanwhile, the Colorado Farm Bureau is the public face of Amendment 74. When the proposal’s signatures were submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office in August, farmers and ranchers, not oil executives, gathered to celebrate the occasion and talk to reporters.

“Do you want to be associated with ExxonMobil or do you want to be associated with the family farmer on the Eastern Plains?” said Eric Sondermann, an independent political analyst. “It doesn’t take rocket science to make that political calculation.”

The spending from Protect Colorado, the industry’s political group, comes as it is also working to defeat Proposition 112, a ballot measure that would increase setbacks for new oil and gas wells — and potentially create a drop in property values for owners of mineral rights. The ballot measure would increase the setbacks to 2,500 feet away from occupied buildings.

Protect Colorado has paid Pac/West, a lobbying and communications firm, $3 million for door hangers, digital and television ads, and yard signs supporting Amendment 74.

In comparison, the Farm Bureau has contributed $10,000 toward passage of the amendment. There are no other donors to the Committee for Colorado’s Shared Heritage, the political action group set up to push the ballot measure.

Still, Protect Colorado spokeswoman Karen Crummy said, it’s the Farm Bureau’s campaign.

Crummy and a spokesman for the Colorado Farm Bureau noted that the measure applies to all properties, regardless of the potential for oil and gas development.

“This is Farm Bureau policy,” said Shawn Martini, vice president of advocacy for the Farm Bureau. “This is something that has been on our policy books for decades. It’s not something that is specific to mineral rights.”

Protect Colorado’s spending on the Farm Bureau’s ballot measure is only a fraction of what it’s spending on ballot measures. Overall, the group has spent $21.25 million to date — most to fight Proposition 112.