Colorado has hosted a surge in oil and gas production in the last few years, but the industry faces new challenges as the state overhauls its regulatory regime. Much of the shale boom in Colorado has been concentrated in relatively dense suburbs north of Denver, which means, unlike the fracking frenzy in West Texas, drillers often bump up against homes, businesses and schools. That has led to an ongoing tension and fights between local communities and the shale industry. Years ago, this battle was manifested in a handful of local bans on fracking. Those were tossed out by state courts. More recently, a 2018 public referendum on increasing setback distances – the minimum distance between a drilling operation and a local home or school – went down in defeat as the oil and gas industry showered the state with money in opposition the vote. But the story didn’t end […]