Industry Sues to Invalidate Colorado Communities' Fracking Bans

It seems that folks’ efforts to restrict fracking from their communities is in jeopardy in Colorado. Last month the citizens of Fort Collins approved a five-year moratorium on fracking within their city, and Lafayette has made similar changes to its city charter to make fracking illegal. Fracking is legal in the state as a whole; these are merely restrictions on fracking within the boundaries of these cities.

            Now the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA), an industry sponsored organization, is suing these two communities these two towns on the grounds that their fracking bans are in conflict with state law that regulates oil and gas extraction. COGA says that only the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has exclusive authority to regulate wells in Colorado. This story goes back to around a year ago, and I've blogged about it before.

            I’m not a lawyer, so I really can’t make a judgment on the merits of this case. Considering, however, how recent research indicates the hazards of fracking (see here, here, and here)  it seems perfectly reasonable that people should be able to restrict this extractive practice from their communities. Sound reasonable? What do you think?