Two groups fighting a ballot measure that would ban hydraulic fracturing in Longmont have now raised more than a half million dollars compared to just under $25,000 that鈥檚 been raised by groups supporting the initiative.
The latest figures come from campaign finance reports submitted to the .
Two oil and gas industry-backed groups Main Street Longmont and Longmont Taxpayers for Common Sense have raised a combined total of more than $500,000 and they鈥檝e spent about half of it on advertising to fight Initiative 300.
The oil and gas industry hasn鈥檛 hid its contempt for the proposed measure which would ban fracking completely from within Longmont鈥檚 city limits. They say its passage would violate private property rights preventing lease holders from developing their mineral rights that lie beneath the city.
But the initiative鈥檚 backers, Our Longmont, say they鈥檙e only trying to mitigate the public health and environmental concerns associated with a heavy industrial practice in an urban area.
Longmont has become the flashpoint in a larger debate over drilling in populated areas along the northern Front Range. The city itselfafter it passed new regulations banning drilling from within residential areas.
