"Environmentalists who want to pass new regulations on oil and gas sites in Colorado have raised about $1 million. Their oil industry opponents have raised more than $35 million."
"Oil and gas companies are spending millions to squash a pair of ballot initiatives this election cycle: a proposal for limiting the location of new oil and gas sites in Colorado, and a plan to charge climate polluters in Washington state.
In both states, the stakes are high. And the battle lines are similar — with the energy industry arguing the proposals would hurt the economy, and environmental groups saying the proposals will protect human health. The fundraising, though, is dramatically lopsided, with way more money on the oil and gas side.
In Colorado, the sixth-largest oil-producing state in the nation, the fight is over some of the strictest so-called setback rules. Ballot initiative 112 proposes that new oil and gas sites in the state be set back 2,500 feet, or about half a mile, from homes, schools, and other occupied buildings. Under the current rules, energy sites must be 500 feet from homes, and 1,000 feet from schools and other buildings."
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