Supraregulatory agreements and unconventional energy development: Learning from citizen concerns, enforceability and participation in Colorado

Controversies surrounding hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas in Colorado's Front Range have led some communities to embrace industrial development and others to block such development through widely-publicized bans and moratoriums. In contrast, some municipalities and county governments have adopted Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) as a strategy to exert some local control over the shape of oil and gas development. Adapting studies of similar supraregulatory agreements in the mining industry to the unique context of hydraulic fracturing in suburban Colorado, our mixed-methods research in one community analyzes the effectiveness of these agreements on three key counts: inclusion of community concerns, enforceability, and community engagement. Our analysis of how the agreements changed over time sheds light on why local opinion about the agreements in Erie was ambivalent, offering scholars and practitioners a critical assessment of a policy tool that is expanding from the mining to the unconventional energy industry.