Update July 10: "Fervor for a plan to carve northeastern
Colorado into a 51st state has been cooled by legal barriers and a
lack of public support, but commissioners from rural counties say
they're not done fighting for better representation of their citizens," Adrian Garcia reports for The Denver Post. Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld and Yuma counties are now considering a proposal that would have representatives elected by county, rather than population. However, a 1962 Supreme Court ruling requires that the legislative districts across states be equal in population. (Read more)
"Rural Colorado county commissioners are pursuing a plan to splinter from the state and create a new one in the aftermath of a legislative session they say runs counter to their way of life," Patrick Malone writes for The Coloradoan in Fort Collins: "Laws passed this year in the Democrat-controlled Legislature enacting stricter gun control and impacting agriculture paired with attempts to expand regulation of oil and gas production to provide the tipping point," according to Commissioner Sean Conway of Weld County (the westernmost county on the map; for a larger version of the map, click on it).
The new state would be called North Colorado but would comprise counties in the northeastern part of the state, the county's commissioners announced today, reports Analisa Romano of the Greeley Tribune. "Commissioners said Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties all expressed interest in the idea." Those counties and Weld are colored on the map.
There could be more. "At the annual meeting of Colorado Counties Inc. this week, commissioners from up to 10 rural counties met formally for the first time to discuss moving ahead with the plan," Malone reports. "Any move to split from the state would involve votes in each county that seeks to be a part of the split, most likely referred by the boards of commissioners. If passed, the plan would require the approval of the Legislature and the governor to petition Congress to create a new state." (Read more)
Energy issues were "the straws that broke the camel's back," Romano quotes the commissioners as saying. In addition to more oil and gas regulation, the Legislature also voted to require rural electric cooperatives to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources. The requirement is now 10 percent, and the co-ops are generally more dependent on coal than other utilities. "The bill, SB 252, was one of the most hotly contested of the legislative session, pitting environmental groups and renewable-energy companies against rural cooperatives and Republican lawmakers," Mark Jaffe of The Denver Post reports.
"Rural Colorado county commissioners are pursuing a plan to splinter from the state and create a new one in the aftermath of a legislative session they say runs counter to their way of life," Patrick Malone writes for The Coloradoan in Fort Collins: "Laws passed this year in the Democrat-controlled Legislature enacting stricter gun control and impacting agriculture paired with attempts to expand regulation of oil and gas production to provide the tipping point," according to Commissioner Sean Conway of Weld County (the westernmost county on the map; for a larger version of the map, click on it).
There could be more. "At the annual meeting of Colorado Counties Inc. this week, commissioners from up to 10 rural counties met formally for the first time to discuss moving ahead with the plan," Malone reports. "Any move to split from the state would involve votes in each county that seeks to be a part of the split, most likely referred by the boards of commissioners. If passed, the plan would require the approval of the Legislature and the governor to petition Congress to create a new state." (Read more)
Energy issues were "the straws that broke the camel's back," Romano quotes the commissioners as saying. In addition to more oil and gas regulation, the Legislature also voted to require rural electric cooperatives to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources. The requirement is now 10 percent, and the co-ops are generally more dependent on coal than other utilities. "The bill, SB 252, was one of the most hotly contested of the legislative session, pitting environmental groups and renewable-energy companies against rural cooperatives and Republican lawmakers," Mark Jaffe of The Denver Post reports.
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