Divided over drilling: messages collide as fracking debate works its way to voters.

• Author: Best, Allen
• Position: ENERGY

COLORADO'S RECORD FOR oil production was set in 1956, and for decades it appeared untouchable. Last year, owing to the confluence of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, much of it in the Wattenberg field north of Denver, the record finally tumbled. Natural gas production was the fourth highest ever.

It's all good, said many in Colorado, citing the bonanza of jobs and tax revenues. But to Protect Our Loveland and other citizen groups from Broomfield to Fort Collins, drilling rigs dotting the night landscape like scattered Christmas trees represent threats, not energy security. The groups have been laying down lines in the tight sands and shales of the Niobrara and other formations.

"We would like to know how our health and property values will be affected," says Sharon Carlisle, president of Protect our Loveland. Industry groups and state regulators have provided information, but she is skeptical. "For them, their bottom line is their point of view."

SWAYING STAKEHOLDERS

The fracking moratorium in Loveland, scheduled for a June 24 vote, was just one of many prospective ballot measures in Colorado headed to the November ballot. After efforts to forge compromise failed, The Denver Post by mid-May had identified more than a dozen possible energy-related measures for the November ballot. Prodrilling groups may sponsor several, to maintain the status quo. U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, has several possible measures. Amendment 75, proposed by the Colorado Community Rights Network, would alter the state constitution to substantially tilt power to govern drilling and other industrial activities to local jurisdictions.

Cliff Willmeng, a registered nurse from Lafayette who is on the board of directors of Community Rights Network, says state government does not tell local communities whether they must accept liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries or pawn shops. But it reserves that right in cases of drilling, mining and other industrial activities. "We're saying that fracking is a violation of our fundamental rights," he says.

Many millions of dollars are expected to yield seemingly nonstop TV advertisements. A pro-drilling political issue committee, for example, had raised $2.1 million from January through April. Also girding for a fight was a bipartisan pro-drilling group backed by former U.S. Senator Ken Salazar and Greeley Mayor Tom Norton. There was also speculation that the American Petroleum Institute would put $20...