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Activist groups hoping to place a pair of anti-energy ballot initiatives before Colorado voters in November are facing a 3 p.m. Monday deadline to turn in at least 98,492 valid signatures of Colorado registered voters for their measures to appear on the ballot.

At stake are ballot initiatives 75 and 78 which, if approved by voters, would add language to Colorado’s state constitution to increase local control, including permitting local fracking bans, and dramatically increase oil and natural gas development setback distances respectively.

With so much at stake as the signature gathering deadline looms, here are three things to know about the initiatives:

#1.  These initiatives are spearheaded by national “Keep It in The Ground” activist groups

While activists backing the initiatives are fond of portraying their campaign as a “grassroots” movement, a heap of evidence reveals that these initiatives are largely the work of national ban-fracking organizations.

Newly filed campaign finance disclosure reports show that national activist groups Food & Water Watch (F&WW), Greenpeace and 350.org have all been playing a major role in the campaign.  Collectively, they have donated tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of in-kind contributions in “staff time” supporting these initiatives. Meanwhile F&WW has even been hiring signature gatherers on behalf of the campaign and has called the issue one of “the biggest” environmental fight in the country this year. As the View Full Article