'Democratic' Gov. Hickenlooper Feels the Heat on Fracking

By now, it's clear that those of us in the environmental community who held our breath and our vapors over the idea of a President Romney, now are not willing to compromise in the face of environmental disaster.
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By now, it's clear that those of us in the environmental community who held our breath and our vapors over the idea of a President Romney, now are not willing to compromise in the face of environmental disaster and environmental genocide. So much so, that leaders like Bill McKibben are willing to be arrested over our 'democratic' cave to the oil and gas industry.

Well, the voices of those individuals who live in fracking areas of Colorado, and with the promotion by Josh Fox, got the word out, and now the heat is on Governor Hickenlooper, who is looking at a re-election bid in 2014 in a state that is becoming very progressive, environmental and future focused. Don't be surprised if Governor 'Frackenlooper' gets a primary or has to announce his end of office from this...

By the way, this video was from 2009. How could any sane person think this practice was safe?

More from Frackenlooper...

I recopied Josh Fox's post from the Wasthington Times on Governor Hickenlooper's testimony before the Senate on my Facebook page. I got a surprising response: Within the same day Governor Frackenlooper had sent out a mass email on this issue:

Despite what you might have heard, I much prefer drinking beer to frack fluid.

For the uninitiated, "frack fluid" is the liquid product oil and gas developers use in deep underground drilling operations. It is mostly water, but includes other ingredients and chemicals that are designed to open up oil and gas deposits and be recovered in the drilling process.

Knowing what's in the fluid and making sure the ingredients are known to the public is what prompted us to pass the most rigorous and transparent frack fluid disclosure rule in the country about a year ago. We negotiated that rule with industry and the environmental community (including the Environmental Defense Fund).

Our goal has been to encourage industry to use ingredients that are safe for the environment. So when an industry executive came to my office over a year ago touting the safety of their product -- a new form of frack fluid based on food additives -- we put him to the test by asking whether it was safe to drink. He said yes. So I challenged him to take a sip. He did, and so did I.

I can't say it tasted good, but it was, as advertised, a completely safe product for human consumption. (This is not to imply that anyone would drink the frack fluid being used today).

As we move forward in developing energy, we ought to insist on the strictest and most effective environmental safeguards.

Although tasting frack fluid might seem newsworthy to some, it was not really the point of testimony we recently gave to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in Washington, D.C. We were drawing attention to the fact that Colorado has created the most comprehensive and stringent set of regulations around oil and gas production in the country.

If you are interested in what went on there, please take a moment to click on this link (and go to 48:45) and let me know what you think.

This is the sign of a governor and his staff and re-election campaign in full 'OH SH*T' mode.

Yes, it's true the governor has a bar that is popular in downtown Denver, (the beer reference) but it is also true that he has touted his geology days with the oil and gas industry prior to that. At first that seemed to be a plus for a Democrat running in a purple state. Now, it seems that Governor Hickenlooper was merely playing his role as a plant for the oil and gas industries and is merely an elected puppet to do their bidding.

God have mercy on you for what you are proposing to have happen on the people of Colorado, and now, all over this great country...

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