Boulder couple, with backing from conservative-leaning group, sues to overturn city O&G moratorium

BOULDER — Two Boulder residents with backing from a Republican-aligned legal group are suing the city in an attempt to overturn its yearslong moratorium on oil and gas drilling on city-owned public space.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado this week, John and Valerie Wells claimed that the city’s ongoing halt on new drilling within its borders has restricted their ability to extract mineral rights that John Wells secured in 1981. That property lies just northwest of the Boulder Reservoir, an area that is now designated as open space.

The property…