City of Fort Collins v. Colorado Oil and Gas Ass'n

Summary

The court held that Fort Collins’s five-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and the storage of fracking waste is preempted by state law and therefore invalid and unenforceable. Fracking involves mixed state and local concerns, and although the state statute does not expressly or impliedly occupy the entire field of local land-use regulation, the moratorium operationally conflicts with the state’s interest in uniform and efficient oil and gas development. The court affirmed the district court’s order and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.