Colo. Supreme Court rules against cities' fracking bans

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday against Fort Collins' five-year fracking moratorium, a long-awaited decision that could have statewide implications for the controversial oil and gas recovery method.

The court also ruled against a voter-supported ban on hydraulic fracturing in Longmont, Colo. In the opinions, released Monday, the court called both laws “invalid and unenforceable” because state law preempts them.

In 2013, Fort Collins voters supported the moratorium on fracking, the widespread practice of injecting a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals underground to break open formations and recover oil and gas. Longmont's ban was voted into place in 2012.

But the Colorado Oil and Gas Association sued both cities in separate cases and won in the lower courts, resulting in the bans being thrown out.

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Both cities appealed the lower court's decisions, and the state appeals court in August asked the Supreme Court to take the cases. The high court heard oral arguments for the cases in December.

The Fort Collins and Longmont cases represent an ongoing debate in Colorado and beyond about whether the ultimate right to regulate the oil and gas industry should belong to states or municipalities.

Carrie Daggett, Fort Collins city attorney, said it's premature to comment until the city has reviewed the decision carefully.

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"These issues are complex, and we’ll thoroughly examine the decisions relative to Fort Collins and Longmont," according to a statement she issued.

Conservation Colorado executive director Pete Maysmith called the decisions disappointing and said that local governments should be able to call a timeout on drilling while they examine its effects.

"These decisions ... show that the oil and gas industry’s threats of litigation are a hammer that the industry has no qualms about wielding against local governments if they decide to engage in land use planning," he said in a press release. "In order to combat this hammer, local governments must be empowered with better tools to protect their citizens from heavy industrial drilling."

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The Colorado Petroleum Council welcomed the decisions for upholding the state's primacy in overseeing oil and natural gas permitting and curtailing "arbitrary bans" on fracking that could cost local jobs, deprive state and local governments of tax revenue and limit access to energy resources.

“Today’s decision protects private property rights, which are a main driver for the energy renaissance in this country," executive director Tracee Bentley said in a press release. "The U.S. was counted out as an oil and natural gas superpower, but with states like Colorado leading the way, the U.S. defied the odds to become the world’s largest producer of natural gas and a world leader in crude production.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association has not yet issued its comments.

Follow Jacy Marmaduke on Twitter: @jacymarmaduke