Fracking deal likely just delays further battles

Color us skeptical — and cynical.

Skeptical that Gov. John Hickenlooper’s newly appointed task force will forge a compromise on fracking that would prove acceptable to all sides. Cynical that withdrawal of competing ballot measures was anything other than a realization by backers on both sides that they had overplayed their hands.

Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., created quite a stir Aug. 4 when they announced a compromise calling for fracking opponents and proponents mutually to withdraw competing measures from the November ballot.

That was in exchange for creation of an 18-member task force made up of conservationists, civic leaders, local…