The Larimer Alliance believes vigorous democratic debate helps our society; and that expecting our elected representatives to respond to sincere questions about top policy issues helps that process.
Below are the questions that we developed as a group, and asked all candidates. Following our questions are their responses, embedded in our questions.
The following candidates did not respond: Jeni Arndt and Shirley Peel.
Mayoral & City Council 2023 Election Questionnaire
Dear Candidate,
We are the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety & the Environment and seek to learn your ideas specific to our mission of educating the public & policy makers of the harms of Oil & Gas (O&G) development. We ask that you please provide your responses by October 5th, so that we may share them with our member list and other interested voters. We may or may not choose to endorse a candidate. Thank you for taking the time to address these important public health & safety issues. (If you feel a simple yes or no response is insufficient to answer any question, we encourage you to add your comments and ideas.)
SB19-181 substantially revised Colorado’s law governing (O&G) development establishing a clear priority of protecting public health, safety, the environment and wildlife resources. SB19-181 also enabled significant local government authority for regulating O&G development with a number of local governments having undertaken & established local regulations that increase protections of public health, safety, the environment and wildlife resources beyond what the State of Colorado feels is protective enough.
1. The City of Fort Collins is currently undergoing a rewrite of its O&G regulations with the next segment to be discussed & written being the operational standards. Operational standards include important regulations encompassing leak detection & repair (LDAR), air quality monitoring, financial assurance, water usage and Fort Collins & Larimer County’s joint O&G inspection program.
a. What ideas do you have for these operational standards that would be an improvement and more protective of public health & safety?
b. Do you support having a collaborative City and Larimer County inspection and enforcement team that conducts regular inspection and monitoring of O&G facilities, with the ability to fine and penalize non-compliant O&G operators for violations at their facilities?
i. Should local taxpayers or O&G operators pay for these inspections?
c. Full cost bonding requires O&G operators to post financial assurance equal to the costs of plugging, abandoning and reclaiming the O&G site once activities have been completed. Do you support full cost bonding requirements for all new O&G facilities?
d. Do you support monitoring and measuring actual water usage by O&G facilities, rather than relying on estimates provided by operators?
i. Do you support water provisions in the City’s regulations so that O&G operators are strongly encouraged or required to recycle & reuse their produced water?
2. The American Lung Association consistently gives Fort Collins an F-grade regarding air quality with the most recent 2023 report (link below) listing us as having the 15th worst air quality of over 200 American cities. Fort Collins has been moving down the most polluted list with more & more dangerous air quality. NCAR’s FRAPPÉ study found conclusively that O&G emissions are the major driver of unhealthy air quality in the northern Front Range area.
https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities
a. Do you support 24/7 air quality monitoring and real-time data reporting at O&G sites and facilities within the City’s jurisdiction including the growth management area, to be paid for by the O&G operator?
b. Do you support 24/7 air quality monitoring and real-time data reporting including signature O&G pollutants for addressing regional air pollution affecting Fort Collins?
c. What other idea(s) do you have to address Fort Collins’s dangerous air quality?
3. Have you received or will you accept campaign contributions from companies whose primary business is the development of fossil fuels?
4. What other idea(s) do you have that could improve environmental protections and sustainability in Fort Collins?
a. How would these lead to improvement(s) in public health, safety, and the lives of Fort Collins residents?
5. What stewardship, environmental or sustainability practices have you implemented in your life that you feel others should consider enacting?
a. Why & what difference(s) has it/they made?
6. Do you support Fort Collins in collaboration with other Front Range communities taking legal action against polluters responsible for emissions that harm Fort Collins & other Front Range communities’ air quality and endanger public health & safety?
Respectfully,
Tim Gosar, Coordinator, Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety & the Environment
Response from Eric Hamrick: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Eric-HamrickResponse from Emily Francis: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-questionnaire-Response-Emily-FrancisResponse from Julie Pignataro: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Julie-PignataroResponse from Melanie Potyondy: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Melanie-PotyondyResponse from Patricia Babbitt: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Patricia-Babbitt-1Response from Alexander Adams: (please scroll through all pages of the pdf to see full response)
2023-Candidate-Questionnaire-Response-Alexander-Adams
Hey Larimer Alliance thanks a lot for endorsing Alexander.
I personally know someone who was involved in that groyper group. It was my son, who I taught his entire life to be kind and loving to everyone around him. I’ve practiced peace and love and demonstrated equality my whole life. I’m also gay.
My son must have lacked some self esteem and along came Nick Fuentes and Alexander Hamilton. (Parents please be aware: my son’s first exposure to them was on discord while Xbox gaming) All you had to do to feel superior was be a white male. Trust me, it’s worse than you can imagine. I believe in redemption for people, but advise extreme caution for a sustained period of time until this man consistently proves his ways have changed. It takes conscious deep hatred to be involved in that group and they practice in verbal abuse of any and all minorities women included.
It’s not a group you can be confused about what you are in. It’s an active hate group and its beliefs are very clear to its members. I went through two years of total devastation fighting and pleading for my son to wake up and leave. I even threw him out of the house at one point. It is 100% a dangerous cult. I won’t even go into half of it. I’m happy to say I fought long and hard and through therapy and a commitment on my son’s part to see the light and my tough love he got out, graduated college, and is a successful businessman who is kind to all. The fact that you would endorse someone who founded a group like that is disgusting and disheartening and a horrible reflection on you. I would recant that.
Hi Sue,
Appreciate the information. As you may have seen, the Larimer Alliance withdrew its endorsement of Alexander Adams in a message sent to the listserv. I think we need to publish that here as well, so that the community is fully informed. Will do that soon.
–Rick the webmaster