Hickenlooper, J Gov Sen

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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">BEAT CORY GARDNER</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WEA-Industry-report-comparison-chart.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WEA-Industry-report-comparison-chart.pdf</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="basic-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 50px 0px 26px;"><div class="basic-heading-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 40px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1080px;"><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 14px; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="news-post-category" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 3px; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;<a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/category/news/" title="View all posts in News" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">News</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/category/press-releases/" title="View all posts in Releases" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">Releases</a></span>&nbsp;August 7, <b>2017</b> by&nbsp;<a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/author/jayson/" title="Posts by Jayson O'Neill" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">Jayson O'Neill</a></font></p></div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: normal; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 860px; letter-spacing: -0.02em; font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary Zinke continues to give handouts to industry, ignores Western voices with sage-grouse order</font></h1></div></div><div class="basic-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 85px 40px 20px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 820px;"><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(242, 241, 239); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/so3353_memo_coverletter_report_080717.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">review</a>&nbsp;of the greater sage-grouse conservation plan. The original conservation plan was implemented two years ago after extensive work and collaboration by a bipartisan group of Western stakeholders, including federal, state and local governments, as well as ranchers, farmers, sports groups, conservationists and industry representatives.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; border: none; margin: 1.5em 0px 55px; padding: 0px 30px; position: relative; line-height: 2em;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This order is another reckless decision made by special interests and Washington politicians behind closed doors – it is a clear giveaway to industry that undermines years of work by Western governors, communities and stakeholders,”&nbsp;<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">said Chris Saeger, Executive Director of the Western Values Project.</b>&nbsp;“These irresponsible changes will not only put this species at risk, but will jeopardize access to public lands and the outdoor economy that Western communities rely on. Secretary Zinke’s careless plan ignores bipartisan, science based results, and could well fast-track the greater sage-grouse’s listing as an endangered species.”</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(242, 241, 239); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Background:</font></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(242, 241, 239); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After years of work and cooperation by federal agencies, Western states and diverse stakeholders, a plan was released in 2015 to conserve habitat for the greater sage-grouse to avoid listing the bird under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service specifically&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/10/02/2015-24292/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-12-month-finding-on-a-petition-to-list-greater" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">cited</a>&nbsp;habitat preservation as the reason for removing the bird from consideration.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(242, 241, 239); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This year, Republican Governor of Wyoming Matt Mead and Democratic Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper sent&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/04/donald-trump-greater-sage-grouse-ryan-zinke/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">two letters</a>&nbsp;to Secretary Zinke opposing changes to the plan. Neither letter has received a public response from the Secretary.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Western Governors met with Secretary Zinke behind closed doors at their annual Western Governors Association meeting about the imperiled bird. Again,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/27/stories/1060056650" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s;">urging</a>&nbsp;the Secretary not to make wholesale changes to the plans. Those requests where ignored.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(242, 241, 239); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Listing the bird under the Endangered Species Act would result in numerous lawsuits from both sides of the issue, and prohibit development across a wide swath of public land.</font></p></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">worst is props?!</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/11/07/midterm-elections-green-ballot-measures-fossil-fuel/">https://theintercept.com/2018/11/07/midterm-elections-green-ballot-measures-fossil-fuel/</a></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">intercept</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>no lnx&nbsp;</b></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">tHE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT $100 MILLION TO KILL GREEN BALLOT MEASURES IN THREE STATES — AND WON</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One clear takeaway from the ballot initiatives in Arizona, Colorado, and Washington state is that fossil fuel money can buy elections.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kate Aronoff</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">November 7 2018,&nbsp;</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PATRICIA NELSON WAS eager for a fresh start when she moved her family from Louisiana back home to&nbsp;</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Weld County,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;Colorado</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in 2016. Soon after, Nelson’s friend encouraged her to come out to a meeting where Lisa McKenzie, an environmental chemist and epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health, was presenting her research on the health impacts of oil and natural gas drilling.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Weld County has one of the highest concentrations of oil and gas wells in the country — 23,000 within county limits. Its air quality carries an “F” rating from the American Lung Association</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;with infant mortality rates twice as high as those in surrounding counties.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;<b>With around 50,000 active wells overall, Colorado just surpassed California to become America’s third-largest oil and gas producer after Texas and North Dakota.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“It was a crash course in fracking,” Nelson told me by phone. Colorado law, she learned, states that drilling operations have to be 1,000 feet away from school buildings, but that ordinance — known as a setback — doesn’t include surrounding school properties, like playgrounds or soccer field</b>s. There, as McKenzie would explain, kids playing and running around breathe harder and heavier, increasing the amount of poisoned air that enters their lungs and bloodstream.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All of this hit too close to home: As she also learned, oil companies had just been approved to open 24 new drill sites near her then-4-year-old son Diego’s school, the kindergarten through third grade campus of Bella Romero Academy; the drilling would take place just behind the fourth through eighth grade campus, where her niece and nephew were students. The decision to drill near Bella Romero at all — where 87 percent of attendees are students of color, and 90 percent fall below the poverty line — was made after parents at an overwhelmingly white school refused to have the same rigs in their kids’ backyards.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Shocked by what she discovered, Nelson joined a coalition that would later become known as&nbsp;<b>Colorado Rising</b>&nbsp;and traveled around the state, telling people about the stakes at her son’s school. Colorado Rising’s work included a push for Proposition 112, a ballot measure to mandate a 2,500-foot setback zone between drill sites and homes, schools, and other vulnerable areas. That measure was defeated 57 to 43 on Tuesday night, in large part thanks to a full-fledged freakout by the fossil fuel industry, which, with $40 million, outspent Prop 112 proponents by at least 40 to 1.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“I guess the oil and gas industry is just another example of money buying elections.”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This is much farther than we’ve gotten before, and we’re no longer going to accept this industry bullying us,” Nelson told me last night, celebrating the fact that Prop 112 even made it on the ballot. “We had a pretty good shot, but they definitely had way more resources than we did. I guess the oil and gas industry is just another example of money buying elections</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.”</span></b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Environmental initiatives on the ballot elsewhere in the country, vehemently opposed by industry groups, also flopped.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;<b>A ballot initiative in Washington state to levy a $15 per ton carbon fee on polluters and invest the revenue in job creation, green infrastructure, and more was defeated 56 to 44 thanks to over $30 million from the oil and gas industry</b>.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Arizona, electric utilities spent $31 million against Prop 127, which would have upped the state’s renewable portfolio standard, requiring the power sector to generate at least half its power from renewables by 2030</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.&nbsp;<b>The proposition was largely bankrolled by liberal donor Tom Steyer via NextGen America, which poured $24 million in support, but it failed resoundingly, garnering just 30 percent of the vote</b>....[more]</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">tUESDAY WASN’T AN unambiguous win for the industry, though — even in Colorado. Amendment 74 — polling high before the election and far better than Prop 112 — would have allowed property owners to sue local governments and the state for any infringement on their profits, but fell short of the 55 percent of votes needed to be grafted into Colorado’s constitution</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The campaign for Amendment 74 was small compared to the fight against Prop 112 but still sizable, with&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">$11.2 million raised by backers — about $10 million from oil and gas — and $6.3 by opponents under the banner Save Our Neighborhoods.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Still, one clear takeaway from the midterms ballot initiatives is that fossil fuel money can buy elections.&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Apparently, $100 million can buy four of them. “They’re putting up big numbers,” said Edgar Franks, a Bellingham-based labor organizer who helped draft and campaign for I-1631 with the environmental justice group Front and Centered. “You can tell that where this is actually a threat to the way that they do business, because they know it’s going to work.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While Washington Gov. Jay Inslee backed I-1631 — having failed to get his own carbon fee through the legislature this spring — his Colorado counterpart was on the opposite side of the fight in his state.</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Prop 112 failed amid opposition not just from the oil and gas industry, but also from now-outgoing Colorado governor and former oil industry geologist </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">John Hickenlooper, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a Democrat, along with governor-elect Jared Polis</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;and his Republican opponent. The Colorado Democratic Party, however, supported it. Polis’s opposition was ironic, given that he himself had spearheaded the push for a 2,000-foot setback rule several years ago before eventually withdrawing it from the ballot.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Despite Polis’s opposition to Prop 112, Colorado Rising is cautiously optimistic about working with his administration</b>, a position bolstered by the fact that Democrats managed to flip the state legislature last night. “Polis clearly understands that fracking is dangerous near communities,” said Micah Parkin, a board member of Colorado Rising and executive director of 350 Colorado. “He may not agree with us on 2,500 feet, but he clearly gets that it doesn’t belong near our children’s schools and homes and water sources.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The bar for improving Hickenlooper’s record on extraction has been set pretty low.</b>&nbsp;The outgoing governor had threatened to call a special lame duck session of the state legislature in the event of Prop 112’s passage.“ It’s incredibly undemocratic,” said Parkin in advance of the vote. “The very idea that he would think it’s OK to turn around and ignore the will of the people, when thousands of his own constituents have worked so hard.”</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The statement wasn’t unprecedented for Hickenlooper.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <b>In 2013, he openly threatened to sue any city that banned fracking within its borders and in fact, did sue Longmont and Fort Collins after they implemented restrictions on fracking.</b> The state’s suit also undermined the legal standing of three other bans and moratoria. “Topics like these,” Nelson told me, “are the ones that enable the true colors of our representatives to come out. It just shows that he’s never been on the side of the people, he’s been on the side of industry.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Predictably, then, the fight over Proposition 112 got ugly</b>. Oil and gas interests painted the measure as an attempt to ban fracking in the state, though it in fact only added on to policies that already exist, which require a 500-foot setback from homes and 1,000-foot setback from schools.<b>&nbsp;In collecting signatures this summer to get Prop 112 on the ballot, canvassers were followed and surrounded by paid protesters</b>.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">“It would be between two and four of us who would plan out where to collect signatures,” Nelson said. “We would get there and 15 or 20 minutes later, these kids would show up with their signs. Unless they were following us, how would they know where we were?” She suspects at least some of them were University of Colorado students and had awkward encounters with them around town after encountering them while petitioning.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A political consultant hired by Colorado Rising this summer to help collect signatures also walked out of the state with 15,000 signatures, which were only retrieved after the group filed a lawsuit to have them returned.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The industry also publicly — and knowingly — overstated the impact of the measure.</b>&nbsp;As Denver’s 9News found from a leaked report that industry groups had seen a report from the consultancy RS Energy stating that their losses would be far less than what they projected out over airwaves. The industry-friendly state regulator, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, had instead claimed in July that some 80 percent of non-federal land in Colorado — the only land covered by Prop 112 — would be off-limits to drilling. Yet the RS Energy report shows that companies would maintain access to 61 percent of the state’s oil and gas reserves. That’s partially because although companies would be barred from drilling within setback zones, horizontal drilling techniques — where the well mouth is within permitted drilling areas — could still access minerals under off-limits areas from up to a mile away.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“People have tried so many different ways to protect themselves over the years, and this was the last recourse.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While it would have been the country’s most ambitious regulatory check on the fossil fuel industry, Parkin and Nelson both emphasized that Prop 112 was a kind of method of last resort. Those looking to place more regulations on the oil and gas industry had tried to get bills passed through the legislature and appealed to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — all to no avail. “People have tried so many different ways to protect themselves over the years,” Parkin said, “and this was the last recourse.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A supporter of Initiative 1631 holds a sign referencing the Nisqually Indian Tribe, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018, during a rally supporting I-1631, a November ballot measure in Washington state that would charge a fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The rally was organized by tribal and environmental leaders, and took place near the offices of the W<b>estern States Petroleum Association&nbsp;</b>in Lacey, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>IT WAS A similar story in Washington, where the legislature failed earlier this year to get a somewhat similar carbon tax measure through the legislature, falling short by “one or two votes</b>.” A 2016 ballot initiative had failed to — by a margin of 20 percent — after drawing fire from the same groups now pushing for I-1631 over its lack of both investment in green projects and attention to the demands of climate and environmental justice groups. The campaign this time around was comparatively massive, drawing in a huge coalition of labor groups, indigenous communities, climate nonprofits, and more.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The biggest limiting factor to commonsense climate policies like Prop 112 and I-1631 isn’t either old school climate denial or bad design, but the sheer force of the fossil fuel industry’s seemingly endless capacity to pour money into elections</b>. While theoretically supportive of carbon pricing and some vague sense of climate action, fossil fuel interests this cycle showed their cards: If it poses a threat to their profits, it’s going down. Fightbacks like the one posed to Amendment 74 are possible. Yet with Democrats taking the House — with several climate hawks now in their ranks — any push on climate there will have to reckon with the colossal funding might of the industry, and the kind of opposition Prop 112 faced from members of their own party sponsored by them.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On the heels of the latest IPCC report — which makes the need to decarbonize every sector of the economy painfully clear — there isn’t really an alternative to going toe to toe with those companies, no matter how much of a David and Goliath fight it might be.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This isn’t over for me, personally.&nbsp; We have had a warning,” Nelson said, referencing that report, “that we either end our dependence on fossil fuels or things are going to get extremely rough for mankind. For me, it shows that it’s just about greed and money for this industry.”</div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/11/05/john-hickenlooper-cory-gardner-us-senate-2020/">https://www.denverpost.com/2020/11/05/john-hickenlooper-cory-gardner-us-senate-2020/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092020/senate-2020-colorado-climate-wildfire-cory-gardner-john-hickenlooper">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092020/senate-2020-colorado-climate-wildfire-cory-gardner-john-hickenlooper</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
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</font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/democrat-john-hickenlooper-to-run-for-senate-after-exit-from-crowded-presidential-field/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">John Hickenlooper to run for Senate after exit from crowded presidential field</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/matthew-rozsa/" title="Posts by Matthew Rozsa" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Matthew Rozsa</a>&nbsp;/&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/salon/" title="Posts by Salon " class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Salon</a></font></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I know changing Washington is hard, but I want to give it a shot,” Hickenlooper said in his announcement video.</font></p></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/hickenlooper-booed-at-california-democratic-convention-for-decrying-socialism-read-the-room/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/hickenlooper-booed-at-california-democratic-convention-for-decrying-socialism-read-the-room/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bossie hit ad</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Citizens United given go-ahead to run ads for “Rocky Mountain Heist”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In this Jan. 21, 2010, file photo Citizens United President David Bossie talks on his cell phone outside the Supreme Court in Washington after the court’s ruling on the campaign finance reform case.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By JOEY BUNCH | jbunch@denverpost.com | The Denver Post</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">PUBLISHED:<b>&nbsp;October 20, 2014</b>&nbsp;at 8:58 am | UPDATED: April 26, 2016 at 10:32 am</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Citizens United, the conservative group behind the new film “Rocky Mountain Heist,” can run ads promoting the movie but still risk answering for it in court, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Any person or group could file a complaint alleging the advertisements are election-time attack ads, not a means of reporting news, Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert told Citizens United in an advisory opinion.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Citizens United announced Sunday it intends to spend $170,000 on TV ads and an additional $40,000 for online promotion between now and Nov. 4 of the documentary about how liberals have gained ground in Colorado.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We are glad that the Secretary of State’s Office has recognized Citizens United as a media entity and that advertisements for our film ‘Rocky Mountain Heist’ will be exempt from reporting and disclosure requirements just as advertisements made by The Denver Post or any other media entity would be,” the organization’s president, David N. Bossie, said in a statement.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Citizens United should have the same protections as traditional media, meaning the Virginia-based nonprofit would not have to disclose the donors who paid for the movie.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The court, however, said the secretary of state’s office could determine<b>&nbsp;if ads that specifically name a candidate up for election</b>&nbsp;qualify as electioneering, which would require disclosure.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Historically, Colorado broadcast facilities and publishers making exempt electioneering communications or expenditures have not disclosed the money raised for or spent on associated advertising because the activity falls within the regular scope and course of business,” Staiert stated in the opinion.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">She said she had reviewed the ads and they qualified for the exemption.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The liberal-leaning Colorado Ethics Watch and other critics of Citizens United claimed victory last week when the appeals court said ads that attack candidates could still be deemed an attempt to influence voters immediately before an election.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>The first TV ad that could start showing this week is titled “You Don’t Know Hick,” as in Democratic<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is in a tight race against Republican candidate Bob Beauprez. The 30-second spot has 12 seconds focused on Hickenlooper.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“We expect Citizens United will comply with Colorado law, and so no complaint will be necessary,” said Luis Toro, director of Colorado Ethics Watch.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Although the ads don’t specifically cite the upcoming election or urge support for Beauprez, the law states that anyone who spends more than $1,000 on ads and names a candidate during the last 60 days before the election must disclose the source of that money, Toro said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TAGS: ELECTION 2014</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.denverpost.com/2015/10/26/hickenlooper-to-challenge-attorney-generals-clean-power-plan-lawsuit/</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Gov. John Hickenlooper said Monday he will seek the state Supreme Court’s opinion on the legality of Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29012701/colorado-ag-vows-fight-clean-power-plan-final" title="The suit." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">lawsuit to stop implementation of the Clean Power Plan</a>.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This notion of everyone suing all the time every time you disagree with a specific remedy, a specific statute, is part of what makes people so frustrated with government,” Hickenlooper, who supports the plan, said in a meeting with The Denver Post’s editorial board.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Democrat says he is particularly worried about Coffman’s lawsuit because it could impede the state’s ability to develop and execute strategies to meet the emission&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/10/23/2015-22837/standards-of-performance-for-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-new-modified-and-reconstructed-stationary?utm_campaign=subscription+mailing+list&utm_medium=email&utm_source=federalregister.gov" title="Final rules published Friday. " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">plan’s mandates</a>. He said the Republican’s decision politicizes the issue and amounts to her trying to derail the initiative.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28578987/clean-power-plan-wants-colorado-cut-co2-emissions?source=infinite" title="More on the plan. " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Clean Power Plan</a>&nbsp;targets existing coal-burning power plants to cut carbon emissions nationwide by 32 percent before 2030 against 2005 levels. In Colorado, the plan calls for a 28 percent reduction in overall carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 against 2012 levels.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Federal officials contend the plan can help leverage the international adoption of similar rules. Detractors have called the initiative a “war on coal” that could have crippling economic impacts.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Except in very rare circumstances, generally the governor is supposed to make that decision in concert with the attorney general,” Hickenlooper said of the lawsuit. “But the governor should have that final say.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Coffman says her office is one of 24 states&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_28725098/colorado-attorney-general-join-suit-obamas-clean-power" title="More on the suit. " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">filing a lawsuit together against</a>&nbsp;the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan touted by President Barack Obama as an important step against climate change. Her contention is the initiative is illegal&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28586741/utilities-state-formulating-actions-clean-power-plan?source=pkg" title="More on the opposition." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">because of conflicts</a>with the Clean Air Act and that it represents overreach by the federal government.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“With (former) Attorney General (John) Suthers, we sat down pretty much every time any issue came up, and we worked through it,” Hickenlooper said, adding that Coffman did not consult him before filing the suit.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">However, Suthers did&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2012/03/19/beltway-blog-ag-suthers-supreme-court-chambers-hear-obamacare-arguments/63997/" title="On the suit. " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">sue to stop Obamacare</a>&nbsp;and defended Colorado’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_26139213/colorado-attorney-general-john-suthers-takes-fire-over" title="On the ban." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">same-sex marriage ban&nbsp;</a>in opposition to Hickenlooper’s views.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hickenlooper’s office says it has not finalized how or when it will appeal to the state Supreme Court for clarification, but that the basis for its question lies in Coffman’s ability to act independently of the governor.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The statute that we’re looking at speaks of prosecuting and defending on the request of the governor,” said Jacki Cooper Melmed, Hickenlooper’s chief legal counsel, citing Colorado’s revised statutes, title 24, article 31, part 1.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cooper Melmed said she is worried about conflicts as some Coffman deputies work with Hickenlooper’s administration to implement the plan while others in the attorney general’s office try to quash it.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This just gets in the way,” Cooper Melmed said of the lawsuit. “There’s no wall really high enough to allow these two things to happen out of the same office.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Coffman has repeatedly said the lawsuit will not work against the governor’s ability to meet the power plan’s requirements.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“I am disappointed to learn (Hickenlooper) is taking this course,” Coffman said in a statement Tuesday. “This is not in the best interest of Colorado or Coloradans, who elected each of us to serve different roles within our system of checks and balances.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Coffman said the governor is departing from past examples during his tenure of dealings with the attorney general’s office.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The governor’s action is an expression of his frustration with the legal challenges I have filed against the federal government,” she added. “I am pursuing those challenges because it is my responsibility as the independently elected attorney general to serve as a check against the abusive, unlawful exercise of federal power over the lives of Colorado’s citizens.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Gale Norton, a Republican </b>who served as Colorado’s attorney general from 1991 to 1999 under Democratic Gov. Roy Romer, said disagreements between the two government branches are typical. She said Hickenlooper’s response in this case, however, is outside the norm.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“For the governor to try to challenge in this way is unusual,” Norton said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In almost all cases where a governor challenges an attorney general, Norton said, rulings are in the attorney general’s favor.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The attorney general represents the state and not the governor,” Norton said. “The attorney general is elected to provide independent representation of the state’s interest.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The governor of Michigan has also said he will work to comply with the new EPA rules, even as the attorney general from his state has joined the lawsuit</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, The Associated Press reports.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The disagreement sets up a deep partisan political split and face-off between the attorney general and governor after years of the two offices working closely together.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tom Cronin, a Colorado College political science professor, said Hickenlooper worked well with former Attorney General Suthers before he left office last year. The matchup between Coffman and Hickenlooper, he says, appears much different.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“She’s a forceful, strong person,” Cronin said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Eric Sondermann, an independent political analyst in Denver, said that although the contention does not represent an irreparable breach for Hickenlooper and Coffman’s relationship, it could be a sign of things to come. “The two of them will have to figure out if this will be the norm — whether this is, in effect, a raised middle finger,” he said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The state’s big energy companies say they are well on their way to meeting —&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28586741/utilities-state-formulating-actions-clean-power-plan?source=pkg" title="The impact." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 52, 89); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; text-decoration: none;">and potentially exceeding</a>&nbsp;— targets set in the plan.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Colorado lawmakers under a Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act in 2010 required regulated utilities to develop plans for reducing air pollution. These plans launched utilities on efforts to replace coal plants with energy generated using renewable sources and <b>natural gas.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul</font></i></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 28px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">24-31-101. Powers and duties of attorney general</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">From The Colorado Independent's John Tomasic. The state of Colorado has joined a lawsuit filed by oil-and-gas companies against the city of Longmon...</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Boulder City Council To Consider Fracking Ban</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Boulder Daily Camera | JOE RUBINO | Posted 08.03.2013 | Denver</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read More: Colorado Fracking, Boulder News, Fracking, Boulder Fracking Moratorium, Longmont Fracking Ban, Boulder Fracking Ban, Hydraulic Fracturing, Boulder Colorado, Denver Ne</span>ws</div><div>
</div><div>Boulder's leaders listened with great interest last week, when at a joint meeting of community officials, Longmont's city attorney gave an update on t...</div><div>
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</div><div><b>Hickenlooper: I Drank Fracking Fluid</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Posted 02.14.2013 | Denver</div><div>Read More: Colorado Fracking, Fracking Fluid, Environmental Protection Agency, Video, Colorado Drilling Regulations, John Hickenlooper Fracking, Denver News, Longmont Colorado Fracking, Hickenlooper Fracking, Longmont Fracking Ban, Hydraulic Fracturing, Colorado Oil and Gas, Denver News</div><div>
</div><div>Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has made no secret of his support for hydraulic fracturing, but on Tuesday he went one big step further and testif...</div><div>
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</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/21/colorado-climate-action-plan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><h1 id="pf-title" style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; clear: both;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Governor Undermines Climate Action Plan in Colorado</font></h1><div id="pf-src" style="height: auto; width: auto; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-top: 6px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 24px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/21/colorado-climate-action-plan/" id="pf-src-url" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: default; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://s2.googleusercontent.com/s2/favicons?domain=ecowatch.com" />&nbsp;<strong style="margin-right: 2px;">ecowatch.com</strong>/2015/09/21/colorado-climate-action-plan/</font></a></div><div style="line-height: 19.04px; clear: both;"><span id="pf-author" style="line-height: 19.04px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gary Wockner</font></span><div id="pf-content" class="pf-12" style="line-height: 19.04px;"><div class="post-content"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But that’s not what the plan does, which was spearheaded by Colorado Democrat Gov.&nbsp;John Hickenlooper who used to work for the oil and gas industry. Gov. Hickenlooper is known far and wide for&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/07/gov-hickenlooper-f-for-fracking/" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;">drinking Halliburton’s fracking fluid</a>&nbsp;and suing local cities that banned&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/fracking-2/" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;">fracking</a>.</font></p><figure class="wp-caption alignnone pf-caption" style="margin: 0.5em 1.5em; padding: 8px 8px 16px; float: right; clear: both; border: 1px solid rgb(177, 167, 155); border-radius: 3px; page-break-inside: avoid; vertical-align: top; max-width: 100%; width: 595px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/coclimateplan750.jpg" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;" /></font><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/coclimateplan750.jpg" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" color="#000000">With this final Climate Action Plan, Gov. Hickenlooper is sending a new message to Colorado citizens: climate change is coming, the state is not going to do much to try and stop it, and you need to adapt, baby, adapt.</font></a></figcaption></figure><p><font color="#000000"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/coclimateplan750.jpg" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Weighing in at 93 pages, Colorado’s new&nbsp;</font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://cwcbweblink.state.co.us/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=196541&searchid=243b8969-739b-448c-bd2d-699af9b7aea0&&dbid=0" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Climate Action Plan</a>&nbsp;is a slick, glossy, amalgam of smooth rhetoric, pretty pictures and soft-ball recommendations</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. In addition the plan purposely obscures uncomfortable facts. For example:</font></font></p><ul class="" style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 1em; padding: 0px 1em; list-style-position: outside !important;"><li style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On page 3, the plan says that greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado will decrease “per unit of Gross State Product” but omits discussing that actual greenhouse gas emissions have and will continue to increase due to population growth and increased fracking for oil and gas.</font></li><li class="" style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Later on page 19, the plan finally shows a graph indicating that actual greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 77 percent&nbsp;from 1990 to 2030—and all through Hickenlooper’s eight-year reign as governor—but completely fails to mention or discuss this startling fact.</font></li><li style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Throughout, the plan discusses the impacts that climate change will have on Colorado—on water, public health, agriculture and ecosystems—but fails to sound any kind of alarm bells that bold and immediate action needs to take place.</font></li><li class="" style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Most of the plan focuses on soft-ball recommendations for “adaptation,” which means that Hickenlooper pretty much accepts that climate change will happen rather than that he will be working to stop it.</font></li></ul><figure class="wp-caption alignnone pf-caption" style="margin: 0.5em 1.5em; padding: 8px 8px 16px; float: right; clear: both; border: 1px solid rgb(177, 167, 155); border-radius: 3px; page-break-inside: avoid; vertical-align: top; max-width: 100%; width: 595px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/coclimate.jpg" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="image-container size-full wp-image-368458" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Colorado climate change emissions will increase by 77 percent from 1990-2030, but the Climate Action Plan says “Colorado is on the right track.”</font></figcaption></figure><p class=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A draft of the Climate Action Plan was secretly sent out for review a few months ago to “selected stakeholders,” rather than opened up for broad public comment. This decision to keep the public outside the process continues in a long line of Hickenlooper’s actions to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149294" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;">circumvent authentic public input</a>&nbsp;about his aggressive pro-fossil fuel policies and drill, baby, drill mindset.</font></p><p class=""><em><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gary Wockner, PhD, is an environmental activist based in Fort Collins. Contact Gary at&nbsp;.</font></em></p><p class=""><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE</font></strong></p><p class="title" /><p class="pf-styled" style="display: inline;"><a class="black-to-green" href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/20/oil-gas-colorado/" style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 2px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">How the Oil & Gas Industry Turned Colorado From Blue to Red</font></a></p></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lafayette, CO residents passed a measure to ban&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/fracking-2/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">fracking</a>&nbsp;within city limits in November, yet they’re still fighting for clean air and&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/water-news/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">water</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A month after elections, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association filed a lawsuit against the City of Lafayette to overturn the newly passed Community Bill of Rights.&nbsp;Now, residents are turning the tables back on the association, as well as the state and Gov. John&nbsp;Hickenlooper in a first-of-its-kind,<b> class-action lawsuit</b> filed Tuesday in Boulder County District Court.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While the suit centers on fracking, it seeks to protect the citizens’ right to self-governance under the Community Bill of Rights. The residents allege that the<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</strong>Colorado Oil and Gas Act and the industry’s enforcement of it violate that right to local self-government under the U.S. Constitution.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This class action lawsuit is merely the first of many by people across the United States whose constitutional rights to govern their own communities are routinely violated by state governments working in concert with the corporations that they ostensibly regulate,” said&nbsp;Thomas Linzey, Esq., executive director of the&nbsp;Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which helped craft Lafayette’s Community Bill of Rights.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The people of Lafayette will not stand idly by as their rights are negotiated away by oil and gas corporations, their state government, and their own municipal government.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The suit comes after Hickenlooper&nbsp;<a href="http://www.coloradoindependent.com/147745/draft-local-control-fracking-bill-fails-to-launch-special-legislative-session" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">postponed a special legislative session</a>&nbsp;with energy industry representatives who wanted to get fracking control back from the residents in Lafayette, Longmont and other towns with&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/huge-election-victories-colorados-anti-fracking-movement/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">local control over fracking</a>. Eleven environmental groups&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/29/colorado-groups-hickenlooper/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">have demanded they be allowed in such a meeting</a>&nbsp;if it ever takes place.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">——–</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE</font></b></p><p itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/29/colorado-groups-hickenlooper/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Colorado Groups Demand Access To Gov. Hickenlooper’s Secret Fracking Meeting</font></a></p><p itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/24/ballot-initiative-coloradans-fracking/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Groups Launch Ballot Initiative to Give Coloradans Local Control Over Fracking</font></a></p><p itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/06/huge-election-victories-colorados-anti-fracking-movement/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Huge Election Victories for Colorado’s Anti-Fracking Movement</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as mayor went to cop15, award for green transport, but suing Longmont on frack ord (hit by 1k year flood) DN 9/18/13; last year world HQ for climate res evac for fire, now for flood.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">huffpo</font></div><div><h1 class="title-news" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; line-height: 36px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gov. John Hickenlooper Tells Senate Committee He Drank Fracking Fluid</font></h1><div class="comments_datetime_new border_none relative v05" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entrybyline="entryByline" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; position: relative; line-height: 16px;"><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><b style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span class="posted-and-updated" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 0px !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posted:&nbsp;<span itemprop="datePublished" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible;">02/13/2013 3:32 am EST</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Updated:&nbsp;<span itemprop="dateModified" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible;">02/14/2013 6:49 pm EST</span></font></span></b></p></div><div class="entry_content" style="list-style: none; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; border-width: 2px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(205, 205, 205); overflow: visible; line-height: 16px;"><div class="entry_body_text" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible;"><div class="float_left" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; float: left;"><div class="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible;"><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has made no secret of his support for hydraulic fracturing, but on Tuesday he went one big step further and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/12/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-i-drank-fracking-fluid/" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">testified that he actually drank fracking fluid</a>.</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You can drink it. We did drink it around the table, almost ritual-like, in a funny way," Hickenlooper said before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">From&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/12/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-i-drank-fracking-fluid/" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">The Washington Times</a>:<br style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; display: block; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></font></p><blockquote style="list-style: none; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: visible; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, found humor in the governor’s admission and asked if the experience was part of some bizarre occult practice.</font><p style="list-style: none; margin: 8px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify;" /><p style="list-style: none; margin: 8px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“No, there were no religious overtures,” Mr. Hickenlooper responded.<br style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; display: block; text-indent: 0px !important;" /></font></p></blockquote><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;" /><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The governor testified that it wasn't "tasty" but added, "I'm still alive."</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hyrdaulic fracturing is a controversial process of injecting water, sand, and chemicals underground at very high pressures to release natural gas. Most companies however have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2012/12/10/will-ohio-legislation-reveal-secret-fracking-chemicals/" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">declined to reveal what components make up their fracking fluids</a>, calling them "trade secrets."</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hickenlooper is not the first person to have claimed to drink fracking fluid. A&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/22/halliburton-executive-drinks-fracking-fluid_n_933621.html" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">report by the Associated Press in 2011 said that Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar</a>&nbsp;offered up a company executive to demonstrate the safety of their<a href="http://www.halliburton.com/ps/default.aspx?pageid=4184&navid=93&Subtopic=CleanStim" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">new fracking fluid recipe CleanStim,</a>&nbsp;by drinking it during a keynote speech at a conference held by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That being said, Halliburton says on its own website that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.halliburton.com/ps/Default.aspx?navid=93&pageid=4184&prodid=PRN%3a%3aKWTBF215&TOPIC=HydraulicFracturing" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">"CleanStim fluid system should not be considered edible."</a>&nbsp;A report by The Denver Business Journal last year also pointed out that it's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2012/03/fracking-fluid-as-a-refreshing.html?page=all" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">not even known whether CleanStim is being used in Colorado</a>&nbsp;since that decision has been left up to the oil and gas companies.</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Invited to speak at the committee by Democratic Sen. Mark Udall,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22572881/hickenlooper-tells-senators-d-c-that-colorado-is" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">Hickenlooper was arguing that states should be taking the lead in natural gas regulation</a>&nbsp;rather than the federal government.</font></p><p style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; text-indent: 1.5em; text-align: justify; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">His support for the fracking industry has caused a lot of friction in Colorado, most recently in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/08/15/hickenlooper-seeks-to-avoid-long-court.html?page=all" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px !important;">city of Longmont where the government is suing the city</a>&nbsp;because of their fracking ban.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has made no secret of his support for hydraulic fracturing, but on Tuesday he went one big step further and <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/12/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-i-drank-fracking-fluid/" target="_hplink">testified that he actually drank fracking fluid</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You can drink it. We did drink it around the table, almost ritual-like, in a funny way," Hickenlooper said before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">From <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/12/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-i-drank-fracking-fluid/" target="_hplink">The Washington Times</a>:

&nbsp;</font></p>

<blockquote><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, found humor in the governor’s admission and asked if the experience was part of some bizarre occult practice.

</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“No, there were no religious overtures,” Mr. Hickenlooper responded.

&nbsp;</font></p>

</blockquote>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The governor testified that it wasn't "tasty" but added, "I'm still alive."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hyrdaulic fracturing is a controversial process of injecting water, sand, and chemicals underground at very high pressures to release natural gas. Most companies however have <a href="http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2012/12/10/will-ohio-legislation-reveal-secret-fracking-chemicals/" target="_hplink">declined to reveal what components make up their fracking fluids</a>, calling them "trade secrets."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hickenlooper is not the first person to have claimed to drink fracking fluid. A <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/22/halliburton-executive-drinks-fracking-fluid_n_933621.html" target="hplink">report by the Associated Press in 2011 said that Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar</a> offered up a company executive to demonstrate the safety of their<a href="http://www.halliburton.com/ps/default.aspx?pageid=4184&navid=93&Subtopic=CleanStim" target="hplink">new fracking fluid recipe CleanStim,</a> by drinking it during a keynote speech at a conference held by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.</font></p>

<div id="ad_mid_article" class="ad_wrapper">

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That being said, Halliburton says on its own website that <a href="http://www.halliburton.com/ps/Default.aspx?navid=93&pageid=4184&prodid=PRN%3a%3aKWTBF215&TOPIC=HydraulicFracturing" target="hplink">"CleanStim fluid system should not be considered edible."</a> A report by The Denver Business Journal last year also pointed out that it's <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2012/03/fracking-fluid-as-a-refreshing.html?page=all" target="hplink">not even known whether CleanStim is being used in Colorado</a> since that decision has been left up to the oil and gas companies.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Invited to speak at the committee by Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22572881/hickenlooper-tells-senators-d-c-that-colorado-is" target="_hplink">Hickenlooper was arguing that states should be taking the lead in natural gas regulation</a> rather than the federal government.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">His support for the fracking industry has caused a lot of friction in Colorado, most recently in the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/08/15/hickenlooper-seeks-to-avoid-long-court.html?page=all" target="_hplink">city of Longmont where the government is suing the city</a> because of their fracking ban.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">----</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</font>

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Hickenlooper-t.html?pagewanted=all&r=0"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Hickenlooper-t.html?pagewanted=all&r=0</font></a></p>

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