Open thread for night owls: Oil and gas interests matter but health concerns don't, says judge

Brandon Baker at EcoWatch writes Colorado Judge Strikes Down Longmont’s Fracking Ban in Favor of ‘State’s Interest’ in Oil and Ga:

One thing is for sure—you can’t accuse Boulder County District Court Judge D.D. Mallard of being dishonest. Her decision Thursday regarding Longmont, CO’s  fracking ban includes no ambiguity. Instead it clearly states that concerns about health risks to residents don’t quite stack up against Colorado’s stake in the oil and gas industries. “While the court appreciates the Longmont citizens’ sincerely held beliefs about risks to their health and safety, the court does not find this is sufficient to completely devalue the state’s interest,” Mallard wrote in the decision, uploaded to Scribd by the Denver Post. Voters approved the ban in 2012, but the Colorado Oil and Gas Association never stopped fighting to overturn it. Earthworks, the Sierra Club, Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont and the other environmental groups listed as defendants plan on appealing the decision. The judge ruled that the ban can remain in place while an appeal is considered. “While we respectfully disagree with the court’s final decision, [Mallard] was correct that we were asking this Court, in part, to place protection from the health, safety and environmental risks from fracking over the development of mineral resources,” Kaye Fissinger, president of Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont, said in a statement on Earthworks’ website. “It’s tragic that the judge views the current law in Colorado is one in which fracking is more important than public health; reversing that backwards priority is a long-term battle that we’re determined to continue.” […]

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Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—The Fire Is Extinguished:

It's remarkable how seemingly intractable labor disputes can get quickly settled when there's massive pressure on the employer. My favorite story about outside events leading to a labor settlement concerns the Newspaper Guild and the Detroit News.   The Guild had won the vote to be recognized as the collective bargaining agent for the editorial staff at the News, but they hadn't been able to reach an agreement on a first contract with the paper, so they set a strike date of July 31, 1975.   The Teamsters offered to try to mediate the dispute, and both sides were negotiating at the Teamster hall in Detroit on July 30th when a person barged in to the room and whispered in the ear of the top Teamsters official, who immediately stood up and exited with his staff, leaving the Guild and newspaper bargainers by themselves. A few minutes later, another Teamster came in to the room and said something to the effect of "Jimmy's missing, so you all need to get the hell out of here." There was no way the Detroit News would let a labor contract get in the way of covering the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, especially since the Detroit Free Press would have scooped the News on everything about the disappearance. Therefore, the Guild got their recognition and their contract, and everyone went straight to work to cover the Hoffa story. All of a sudden the print deadline was far more important than the strike deadline.

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Tweet of the Day

In case you wondered, Congress is full of idiots (via @beebigelow ) http://t.co/...
— @UnstableIsotope

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On today's Kagro in the Morning show, Spedwybabs' simple & helpful pointer for how to help with the Detroit water crisis; lots and lots of Halbig & King follow-up; and the House lawsuit against Obama inches forward. Also, the craziest gun story of the day: the MN man who shot a 17yo neighbor because she asked him to stop riding his lawnmower over her property. And the NRA imagines a "gun-required" world. The financiers are securitizing farmland and crops. What could go wrong? Turns out none of these big mouths ever "goes Galt." And they're also lying about the connection between corporate performance and their giant paychecks. Shocker.

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