Gasland: Disturbing developments

[Rick Kissell]

		Dear friends, There has been a disturbing development on fracking regulations in Colorado and we need your support.  Colorado Congressman Jared Polis has made a backroom deal on fracking regulations with Govenor Hickenlooper that circumvents democracy and ignores the grassroots voice of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans.  Tell Congressman Jared Polis that he Cannot Betray 300,000 Signatures Supporting Clean Air and Pure Water in Colorado I will be attending a rally today in Boulder and hope you can join me. More on the rally from Shane Davis, the brilliant GASLAND regional coordinator and the man behind FRACTIVIST.com: Jared Polis will be having a town hall meeting today at the Meadows Branch Library at:  Boulder Meadows Library Tuesday, August 5th 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.  ***(activists arrive at 4pm)*** 4800 Baseline Rd. Boulder, CO 80303 The Colorado activist community has called to action every organization to conduct a peaceful direct action press conference today at 4 PM just before Polis' town hall meeting. The press conference will be filmed with many speakers including; Josh Fox, Shane Davis, Frack Free CO and a legion of other mothers, organizers, signature gatherers for Polis and many concerned citizens from all over Colorado. Your support is critical for Colorado and the rest of the nation. If politicians continue to steal democracy as they have done in Colorado, many other states will be doomed by the fracking industry's agenda. Please consider sending to us a letter, comment, pushing the issue via social comms etc. Online petition forthcoming... This deal could set a dangerous precident for the rest of the nation. Please, sign the petition to Congressmen Polis here. Any support/statements very much encouraged.  This seems to be a very serious betrayal of on the ground voter organizing. I know that folks on the ground in Colorado are organizing now and could really use some reaching out.  Please coordinate through Shane Davis at fract...@gmail.com Thanks, Josh More on the situation from Shane Daivs: Dear Representative Polis: We watched in horror as you blatantly hijacked Colorado’s democratic process, by throwing out nearly 300,000 signatures for statewide initiatives 88 and 89 that you yourself said were “sensible regulations on fracking.” You represent a district where five communities passed local initiatives that voted “yes” to moratoria and bans on fracking, yet you failed to represent those constituents, your constituents. In the Colorado constitution, it states that all political power is vested in the people. Though our political process has largely been usurped by money and party rule, you the politicians forget that “We the people” are the party. You work for us and we have spoken. What you and the Democratic party have done in this state is hijack our democratic process. In less than six weeks time, we made it clear that we expect our right to “clean air, pure water and natural and scenic values” to be represented in the Colorado Constitution. And we expect that our local governments are there to protect us. By withdrawing these initiatives, you also withdrew the voice of Coloradans. You have said, in essence, that we the people should not have the right to protect our communities from fracking. You, left us naked and unarmed to protect ourselves from what, by default, are non-sensible regulations which violate rights to safety. In Colorado we have 52,000 active oil and gas wells, 74,000 abandoned wells, 13 inspectors, 500 spills a year. That’s two a day now, Jared. Your actions prove that we not only have an environmental crisis, but also a democracy crisis. We are not bargaining chips in some sort of game of Chicken with the Democratic party and Governor Hickenlooper. We demand that you carry out the intent of the people who signed these initiatives in good faith. That you allow us to submit them if you will not. The democratic process is not yours to steal. It, like Colorado’s environment, is the common property of all Coloradans. Protecting the health and welfare of Coloradans from the harms of the fracking industry should never be a poker game. These are real peoples lives at stake. Talking Points: Ballot 88: Sensible Fracking Restrictions that would protect us from fracking by placing wells 2,000 feet from occupied homes, hospitals and schools. You have said that, by default, that its ok to expose those children to a host of unregulated toxins, to gas our population, in the name of private profits. Ballot 89: An environmental bill of rights. By your decision to pull these, we now don’t have a right to an environmental bill of rights. Over 300,000 signatures were collected in less than six weeks. Those signatures represent a frustrated population that couldn't believe it didn't have those rights to begin with, that is fed up with unregulated fracking. Your own paid people were trained to talk about these ballot initiatives being an antidote to the non-sensible regulations already in place. You have left us with non-sense. You have left us without protections not only for us today, but our children tomorrow. What are you going to say to your own children, to your grandchildren, when they ask what you did to ensure that they had the right to clean air, pure water and scenic values? Will you tell them they don’t?