Fracking the System; World Premiere, Awards, A New Fracking Bill, and Upcoming Screenings

Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

World Premiere

We had a wonderful world premiere at the 2024 Colorado Environmental Film Festival and we were honored with the Spirit of Activism Award. Producer Jessica Daugherty came in from Portland, director Brian Hedden’s parents came in from New Jersey and we had 12 activists from the film participate in the Q and A after the screening. It was a beautiful and momentous kickoff to our screening tour.

Watch my acceptance speech at CEFF.

Durango Film Festival and DocUtah

The weekend after the world premiere, we screened at two other film festivals, DocUtah and the Durango International. Director Brian Hedden attended Durango while activist-participant Patricia Garcia-Nelson attended DocUtah. In Utah, the film received a standing ovation and the Environmental Award. In Durango, Brian received continual praise for the film and feedback about the inspiring perseverance of the activists.

As a result of these screenings, we’ve gotten some great press and lots of leads for community screening tour.

A New Fracking Bill: SB24-159

SB24-159, commonly known as the ‘Phase Out and Clean Up’ bill, would phase out new fracking in Colorado by 2030 and would make the oil and gas industry liable for cleaning up abandoned wells. This is the first bill of its kind to be introduced at the Colorado capitol and would be a huge win for the environmental and impacted communities (most Coloradans). If you want to testify to support this bill, fill out this form from 350Colorado (the original hearing date was postponed but will be coming up again soon.).

There are four other key environmental bills at the legislature this session. (Summaries below from PSR Colorado)

• HB24-166 Air Quality Enforcement creates a more stringent penalty structure for repeat violators of air quality regulations and allows the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) to directly assess civil penalties. Penalties will be higher for violations in disproportionately impacted communities (DIC)s.
• SB24-165 Air Quality Improvements will require the Air Quality Control Commission to adopt emissions standards for trucks and develop rules for controlling emissions from all structures emitting pollutants within the ozone nonattainment area. The bill will require oil and gas operators to submit an annual emission inventory report and develop a plan to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions in the nonattainment area.
• HB24-1330 Air Quality Permitting will require that the APCD cease issuing air permits in ozone nonattainment areas and in DICs, and that air quality modeling be done before any construction permit is issued. It will require the Division to aggregate emissions from all sources within oil and gas facilities (currently any one well pad may have hundreds of small air permits).
• Regarding Large Industrial facilities, including the Suncor Refinery, HB24-1339, Disproportionately Impacted Community Air Pollution expands the AQCC to include one DIC member and one climate scientist, prohibits emission increases from this sector in the near term, prohibits payments to the state to avoid compliance, and requires direct source specific reductions of GHG in DIC.

To get updates about these bills and how you can support them, sign up for updates from 350Colorado or PSR Colorado.

A Successful Climate Lobby Day

On March 1st, over 100 concerned citizens and climate activists attended Climate Lobby Day in Denver. After learning about this year’s environmental bills and lobbying procedures, they spoke with state representatives to educate and urge them to pass these laws. A huge thanks to all of the activists and Earth-lovers who continue to stand up for our planet.

Upcoming Screenings