The eight north Colorado counties hoping to secede and form the new “North Colorado” say their plan is so popular, they might have to say no to some would-be joiners. The persistently secession-minded El Paso County has apparently expressed some interest. So have oil-rich counties in neighboring Nebraska and Kansas.
The idea of North Colorado is to keep the oil revenues at home rather than sharing them with the existing state, the way other revenue gets shared. The local Greeley Tribune (subs. requ’d.) reports that Weld County, which is leading the push, has heard from folks in Nebraska and Kansas who’d like to keep their oil revenue, too. Weld County Commissioner Doug Rademacher tells the paper he expects another eight or so counties to show up next week for a meeting about breaking away:
“We basically are going to have to decide at that point, how much bigger we want to get,” he said of the July 8 meeting. “We can’t have a checker board of counties that want in. . . .
Rademacher said he’s gotten mostly positive feedback from his constituents, with 15 emails in support of the measure to every one email against.
“The snowball is getting bigger,” he said.
Rademacher says he that expects a motion for secession would get 60 percent support at the ballot box, but that the state legislature(s) and Congress would never approve it. Which might be for the better, since all their fracking and farming take a lot of water. Currently, the counties yearning to breathe free get their water through a shared statewide compact.
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