The best-known tale of redemption in popular literature might be that of Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens’ unhappy old miser turned generous and joyous by visits from spirits — or, possibly, a series of nightmares, depending on your views of Jungian dream analysis and the supernatural.

But Scrooge is far from alone. Redemption is a common theme in storytelling both highbrow and low, from Satan in Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (it generally takes a semester to explain) to Oskar Schindler in “Schindler’s List” to Darth Vader himself, if you made it to the end of “Return of the Jedi.”

And now, the governor of Colorado, his politics of quirkiness beguiled and besmirched by his friends in the oil and gas industry, has a rare chance to redeem himself before he leaves office, perhaps even softening an enduring reputation as Gov. Frackenlooper here in Boulder County.

It is an opportunity to acknowledge that recent events have disproved his idealized view of modern oil and gas operations. His thesis — that oil and gas drilling is so safe and well regulated today it can be located right in the middle of residential neighborhoods, posing no safety threat — was destroyed when a tragic mistake blew up a house in Firestone last month, killing two residents and severely injuring a third.

Read the full story at The Daily Camera