Frustrated Colorado anti-oil and gas activists turn toward civil disobedience
July 25, 2017
Two dozen protesters disrupted the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meeting Monday, demanding the panel accept a court ruling that says health and safety must be protected before drilling can be done. The group was herded from the panel’s meeting room and then pushed out of the building.
Colorado residents opposed to oil and gas industry operations near people slammed state industry regulators Monday, demanding that they accept a court ruling that says health and safety must be protected before drilling can be done.
They're furious that drilling continues inside communities. And they're frustrated by rules that limit local government power over companies and a new law that makes it tougher to get initiatives on the statewide ballot. Civil disobedience, they said, seems their only option.
The roughly two dozen protesters at first vented their rage in testimony at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's regular monthly meeting.
"I'm telling you guys, you aren't aware how much anger there is in this state," Denver resident Cleo Dioletis, 70, said. "There are people who want to sell their homes because of fracking and they can't. Nobody will buy their homes. Thank you for letting me speak. But you people? You disgust me."
