March 04, 2013 12:20 PM UTC

And Whose Fracts are We Talking About?

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• by: Colorado Pols

There can be a great danger in considering yourself an "expert" in any issue. By insisting that your knowledge and view of a particular subject comes from a base of true expertise, two things tend to happen: 1) You end up talking about an issue so much that it grows larger than you can control, and 2) You can back yourself into a corner by relying on your self-appointed expertise over the advice and recommendations of anyone else.

It seems these days that Governor John Hickenlooper finds him self in a fracking morass. While concerns over fracking dominate conversations at the local level (Longmont, Ft. Collins), Hickenlooper seems to go out of his way to keep the controversy at the top of the fold both statewide and nationally. It would be one thing if Hickenlooper's positioning on fracking meshed well with the opinions of a majority of Colorado voters, but he has planted himself firmly on the pro-drilling side of the argument — a curious approach, to be sure, for a guy who seems almost obsessive about movement in his approval ratings.

One day he is gleefully telling Congress that he once drank fracking fluid; a few days later, he emails supporters to say. "I don’t think there’s any frack fluid right now that I’m aware of that people are using commercially that you want to drink." In December Hickenlooper said that that the State of Colorado won't sue Longmont over the city's November vote to ban fracking. Then last Wednesday, Hickenlooper defiantly said that the State of Colorado will sue any city that attempts to ban fracking within its borders. Having trouble keeping up with the frackts of the day? You're not alone.

Now, here's where we start to enter a land of complete and utted ridiculousness on the part of Gov. Hickenlooper. Check out his statements that appeared on Saturday in the Grand Junction Sentinel:

He said the debate over oil and gas production needs to be fact-based and respectful, and reflect some willingness to compromise.

“The real challenge is getting everybody on the same facts,” he said [Pols emphasis].

He said he’s probably spent as much time looking into the facts surrounding drilling and fracking as he has exploring any other issue, and started out with a good knowledge base thanks to his work in the industry.

"The real challenge is getting everybody on the same facts." If by "everybody," Hickenlooper means "the Governor," then we totally agree. But it's hard to get everybody on the same "facts" when Hickenlooper changes those "facts" on a regular basis…

There's no doubt that Hickenlooper's support of increased oil and gas drilling is making the oil and gas industry very happy. But why does he continue to put himself out in front of a speeding bus driven by, well, everyone else? The cuts are slow and many, but fracking is killing him politically. Hickenlooper's insistence that he knows the issue because he was once a geologist is like saying you are an iPad expert because you helped build the first Macintosh PC; technology changes at a rapid pace, no matter the industry.

Maybe Hick is correct — maybe he really, truly does know fracking and is justified in his statements that the practice is completely safe. But if that's the case, why is he so bad at explaining the "facts" (whichever they may be) and leading all sides toward even a modicum of political consensus? Maybe, Governor, you don't understand fracking nearly as well as you think you do. There's no shame in that; your days as a geologist were a long time ago, and nobody would expect you to have followed the changing science, technology, and potential health risks over the years.

Maybe, Governor, it's time to take a step back and look at the issue more objectively, because it doesn't take a background in geology and fracking to see that you have no idea how to get this issue under control.