- Energy companies including Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL), Whiting Petroleum (NYSE:WLL), DCP Midstream (DPM) and Synergy Resources (SYRG) have donated millions of dollars to derail a push by Colorado environmentalists to place measures on November's election ballot that would stifle oil and gas drilling in the state, Reuters reports.
- Environmental groups are gathering signatures for two statewide initiatives that would transfer regulatory control of oil and gas development to local governments and create tougher setback requirements to keep oil and gas activities away from occupied structures.
- Opponents of the proposed ballot initiatives say they would seriously damage oil and gas exploration in Colorado, the seventh largest oil and gas producing state in the U.S.; a state agency tasked with encouraging energy development says 90% of surface acreage in Colorado would be unavailable for oil and gas development under the new setback laws.