Grassroots -vs- Oil&Gas in Colorado

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We sure could use your help....


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John Gorman 970-948-0613

Jack Real 970-947-9194

Colorado Landowners for Fairness

PO Box 3361

Glenwood Springs, CO 81602

Residents SCRAMBLE TO GET landowners INITIATIVE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo., July 10 – Today Colorado Land Owners for Fairness (CLOFF) kicked off its petition drive to place an initiative on the ballot that would require oil and gas operators to compensate people when oil and gas drilling occurs in their neighborhood. Landowners in Garfield County who have seen huge increases in drilling in their county over the past seven years are spearheading the effort.

“This is a common-sense non-partisan initiative that is needed to protect citizens who currently have no rights and no recourse when oil and gas drilling occurs on or near their property,” said John Gorman, a local realtor and spokesman for the group.” The Colorado Legislature failed in an effort to enact landowner protection in its most recent sessions.

CLOFF recognizes that gathering 100,000 signatures in a month will be difficult. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, The Colorado Petroleum Association, and the Colorado Mining Association—lobbyists for extractive industries—have challenged the legality of the initiative language all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.

“The Oil and Gas and Mining lobbies are fighting us every step of the way. We had intended to collect signatures only through a volunteer effort, but because of delays we are going to have to pay to have signatures collected,” Gorman said. He and CLOFF have mounted a fundraising effort to pay for professional signature gatherers, and are calling for volunteers and donors to help with the effort.

Industry does not have to pay for the use of four to 10 acres of land for wells, roads and pipelines or for an owner’s loss of property value. A gas well can stay in production for up to 30 years. Landowners must continue paying taxes on the land although they cannot use the land.

The initiative is simply stated: A MINERAL EXTRACTOR SHALL PAY THE FAIR VALUE OF DAMAGES BROUGHT ABOUT IN THE DEVELOPMENT, PURSUIT, OR EXTRACTION OF A MINERAL, INCLUDING OIL AND GAS. When this initiative becomes part of the Colorado constitution, it will encourage those companies, which are not already being good neighbors and using best practices, to begin doing so.

Gorman stated. “Some drillers come in and take as much land as they want, anywhere they want, with out compensating landowners or cleaning up their mess after they are finished.” A La Plata County study has found that landowners can expect a 23 percent decline in their property value when a gas well is located on their property.

“It becomes an industrial area,” Gorman said. “Not many people want to live on an industrial site,” Numerous domestic water wells in Garfield and La Plata Counties have been damaged or contaminated by nearby drilling.

“What is happening to Garfield County is appalling,” said Beth Dardynski, a landowner in that county who supports the initiative. “No one is opposed to drilling but it can and should be done in a manner that does not destroy the lives and the property values of the people who live here. People who do not live with drilling activities 24 hours a day cannot understand how bad it really is.”