Oil And Gas Pollution Taxes Set To Pass In Boulder And Lafayette

BOULDER, CO -- Boulder and Lafayette voters put their stake in the ground with a resounding approval of twin measures that would impose a pollution tax on oil and gas extraction within city limits. With roughly an estimated 75 percent of ballots counted, 77.07 percent of eligible voters approved of Boulder's Ballot Issue 2C, while its partner in Lafayette, 2A, had 71.20 percent of the vote.

The tax will cost operators up to $6.90 per barrel of oil extracted or $0.88 cents per thousand feet of cubic gas. The money raised will be used for general purposes, as well as to off-set the costs of any oil and gas development. In calculating what they call the "true social costs" of oil and gas development, Boulder city staff took into account metrics such as community health problems or damage to natural ecosystems.

In a statement to the Daily Camera earlier this year, Dan Haley, head of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said he believed that the measure would overstep Boulder's authority as a local government and could leave the city open to lawsuits.

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