On January 1st, 2015 the moratorium on fracking in Boulder County expires, and the door opens to what may be the biggest single threat to the county’s sustainable food movement. Tonight the commissioners are taking public comment on whether or not to extend the moratorium, and even though there is overwhelming public support for extending it, the threat of lawsuits from the state or courts overruling the decision is clouding the process. Here’s a draft of comments Mark plans to deliver this evening: “For the last eight years I have dedicated my time and passion to developing my own farm and being actively involved in strengthening the local food system within Boulder County. During that time I have repeatedly heard commissioners prioritize local agriculture, we’ve sat in meetings together talking about how to make local food work. Today I am here to urge you to consider the effects of lifting the moratorium on fracking will have on our local food economy. As an environmental and water resource engineer I have been following with great concern the effects that natural gas extraction has had on the soil, air, and water quality in our neighboring counties. After reading the results of the scientific studies provided in Addendum 1 of tonight’s meeting packet, the majority which point to either the possibility of environmental contamination or the need for more research, I am further convinced of the need to extend the moratorium. If the moratorium expires, the door would be open to natural gas extraction in the unincorporated part of our county, the very location where the majority of our market farms are located. Not only does this pose a threat to the health of our farmland and farm workers, but also threatens the very viability of our local food movement. The truth is Boulder County is ripe to be the next big agritourism destination, with people coming from across the country to experience our farms, restaurants, and food related events. But who would want to visit a farm community filled with gas drilling? Imagine a tourist taking a bike tour to visit local farms and having to ride past numerous condensate burners flaring toxic levels of benzene. Opening up our county to hydraulic fracking would be a huge setback to the economic potential of agritourism, and a setback to the businesses of our local sustainable farmers. In our arid climate water is life to our farming community and hydraulic fracking has proven to not only contaminate it but also to waste large amounts of it, pumping millions of gallons of the precious resource into the earth, removing it from our natural water cycle. The extractive mentality of the oil and gas industry is not sustainable and is a threat to our county’s farmers who have dedicated their time and efforts to building our soils and preserving our water. I’ve heard young educated farmers, passionate about providing healthy food to this community, say that if the moratorium is lifted they plan to move and find another place to begin farming. I don’t have that option, I was born here, raise my children here, and care deeply about my farm and my community. So we are left with two options, inviting a poorly regulated, extractive industry into our county or extending the moratorium and investing in the health of our citizens and the viability of our young farmers. If you are really serious about supporting local agriculture, I urge you to stand by your constituents and extend the moratorium. Please don’t let the fear of a lawsuit or the possibility of a court overturning the decision prevent you from making the right choice, I’m hopeful that we do still in fact live in a democracyâ€
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:28:18 +0000
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