Sen. Matt Jones of Louisville said Wednesday he plans to introduce a bill in the next session to give local governments more authority to “plan, zone, and refuse to allow oil and gas operations as they see fit – just as they do with every other industry.”

Though Jones is the Senate Democrats’ appointed leader on environmental issues, his odds of passing such a bill past the energy-loving Senate Republican majority are about as good as his constituents striking oil putting up a volleyball net.

The courts have said the state, not local government, retains the authority to regulate oil and gas, as lightning rod political issue in Boulder and Weld counties.

“No city or county should be forced to allow drilling and fracking operations to set up shop across the street from homes and schools,” he said. “The oil and gas industry is not entitled to special treatment.

“As public servants, one of our first priorities is to keep people safe. After the Firestone tragedy, it’s abundantly clear that we cannot rely on industry ‘self-policing’ alone to prevent grave threats to public safety.”

Rich Coolidge, a senior strategist with Vital for Colorado, the business coalition that supports energy development in the state, said what Jones is proposing is not new.

“While the phrase ‘local control’ may sound reasonable, there’s a reason why national ‘ban fracking’ groups like Food & Water Watch have tried to put local-control measures on the statewide ballot twice in the past two election cycles,” Coolidge said. “Like Gov. (John) Hickenlooper warned back in 2014, these measures have one simple goal – to drive the oil and gas sector out of Colorado.

“That would cause massive economic damage and job loss across the state economy and business community. Regardless of party, state legislators and candidates for local office should defend the state against these anti-business forces, not pander to them in such a reckless way.”

Jones called that premise something any industry could claim.

“The notion that local control would somehow devastate one of the most lucratively profitable industries in the state is absurd,” he said. “Countless other industries such as homebuilders are subject to local land use decisions and still manage to turn a healthy profit.

“The industry loves to talk about ‘private property rights’ in defense of their own business practices, yet strips those same rights from thousands of Coloradans each year through practices like forced pooling. Coloradans shouldn’t be subjected to industry-led attacks on private property rights through this kind of corporate imminent domain.”

Jones said his perspective bill would make public safety a priority by giving local government the oversight over “hazardous chemicals and dangerous, poorly maintained drilling and fracking operations.”

Jones is running for Boulder County Commission next year. The county is rich with passionate oil-and-gas opponents, including those who challenge local officials as not tough enough.

“Sen. Jones has a lengthy record of supporting efforts or legislation to ban Colorado’s oil and gas industry,” said Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry group. “You can’t regulate oil and gas in the same manner as you might another industry. That’s because Colorado’s resources do not naturally follow city or county boundaries, which plainly means that strong state oversight is the most appropriate forum for regulatory authority over development.”

Haley said the while the Colorado Oil and Gas Control Commission and the state health department are have the primary role in regulating the industry, local governments have a say-so in land use planning, short of an outright ban, which a handful of communities have attempted unsuccessfully.

“While we haven’t seen the language, the PROTECT Act appears to dismiss the rules on the books, as well as the fact that Colorado has the most technologically advanced, strictly regulated, and well-controlled oil and natural gas operations of anywhere in the nation,” he said. “Colorado’s big-tent approach encourages broad stakeholder participation, especially from local governments, and that should be championed rather than attacked as part of a political agenda.”

The next session begins on Jan. 10.