Two measures to allow Colorado communities to ban hydraulic fracturing failed to garner enough voter support to make the fall ballot, the most high-profile defeat to date for groups aiming to curtail the drilling practice. Supporters of the measures, which could have severely limited oil-and-gas production in the energy-rich state, fell short of gathering the nearly 98,500 signatures each initiative needed to get on the ballot, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said Monday. Officials said they were able to validate fewer than 80,000 signatures for each ballot proposal, based on a random 5% sample of all the signatures submitted. The yearslong campaign against fracking has notched some big symbolic victories, including a statewide ban in New York, and souring public opinion nationally has catapulted the issue into a presidential campaign for the first […]