In efforts to ban drilling, case law on side of oil, gas

FORT COLLINS – Try as they might, Northern Colorado cities that hope to ban oil drilling or hydraulic fracturing can expect little chance of success, according to a review of Colorado case law.

Longmont voters banned fracturing recently, and the Fort Collins City Council gave its preliminary OK to a similar ban earlier this week as anti-fracking fervor rages on along the Front Range. State law, however, pre-empts oil and gas drilling prohibitions, oil and gas attorneys say.

Voss v. Lundvall Brothers, a 1992 Colorado Supreme Court decision that struck down Greeley’s drilling ban, is the case most-often mentioned that makes…