[Note...Diary and the original title was corrected from original version.]
This is a very brief and quick diary with some good news for Democrats in Colorado.
Governor John Hickenlooper, Senator Mark Udall and Representative Jerod Polis came to a deal over the weekend concerning the 2 ballot measures that were being promoted by Polis.
Instead, there is proposed agreement for an expert panel to examine the oil/gas drilling site setback issue and Hickenlooper is withdrawing the state's lawsuit against the City of Longmont anti-hydrocarbon extraction ordinance.
Hickenlooper, Udall and Colorado Dems might thus be dodging a bullet and the prospect of a statewide energy-industry-run anti-ballot proposition campaign that would have probably rolled both Hickenlooper and Udall out of office.
Hickenlooper is going to have to take revision of the setback issue seriously, so the odds are that Polis will likely get some kind of concession on setbacks, but not the 2000 ft requirement that he was seeking.
The environmental rights measure Polis had been promoting wasn't very well written and didn't reflect public trust legislation promoted by the late Professor Joseph Sax....so failure to prosecute that Polis proposal does not lose much.
Democrats in Colorado will hopefully NOT eat their own, as was feared.
One political threat to Democrat's majority U.S. Senate has probably been averted.
Here is coverage less than 3 hrs old at diary posting:
http://time.com/...
http://kdvr.com/...
1:49 PM PT: More coverage on this story.....just published:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/...
http://www.bizjournals.com/...
http://www.latimes.com/...
2:15 PM PT: There is this wrinkle in the story:
"Until we receive confirmation that industry has withdrawn initiatives 121 and 137, our campaign is moving forward," a statement from the group says. "Our campaign supports the plan Rep. Polis and Gov. Hickenlooper laid out today and will be watching closely to see how it unfolds in the coming days." - See more at:
http://www.cpr.org/...
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/...
4:27 PM PT: Denver Post coverage:
http://www.denverpost.com/...