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| Screen shot of a poll from the Denver Post at 1:30 pm on March 16, 2013 |
"We are responsible for the residents of Fort Collins and their well-being, Mayor Karen Weitkunat said before the meeting. "We're truly representing the people when we come forward with a decision, even though it may conflict with the state's. There's been reluctance by state legislators. If this is regulated by the state, why haven't they been talking about it? I don't take my responsibilities to the state or the federal government lightly. We are all under the same flag."
While patiently waiting for oil & gas (O&G) legislation, we have watched the Democratic legislature sweep through a slew of other bills, with little accommodation for those who resist them. Last year, the ASSET bill (granting in-state tuition to undocumented students that attend and graduate from Colorado high schools) wouldn't even pass with compromise language that set the tuition rate for undocumented students at higher than the in-state rate, but lower than the out-of-state rate -- it passed this year with no compromise. Last year's Civil Unions bill was killed even though it contained exclusions for religious institutions -- this year it soundly passed without those exclusions. And a slew of gun bills have furiously progressed through the legislature with little regard for organized opposition on the right. So where are the O&G bills?
Democrat legislators demonstrate they have the social capital and will to pass legislation that's important to them. As O&G legislation finally comes to the table, will they demonstrate they have the will to fight for public health and the environment? Or did they use up the social capital we extended them for other purposes?
References:
- Threat of Colorado lawsuit looms as fracking ban OK'd in Fort Collins, Denver Post, March 5, 2013
- Colorado Democrats to pitch expanded city, county control over fracking, Coloradoan, March 14, 2013
- Denver Post poll
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