Spending on a pair of ballot measures that would have a sweeping impact on Colorado oil and gas development appears to have set a Colorado state record.

The last campaign finance reports before Election Day show that spending for Amendment 74 and against Proposition 112 has now topped at least $38.2 million combined.

The two measures – seen as a reaction to one another – would set new rules for energy development. Proposition 112 would push oil and gas operations much farther away from homes and buildings. And under Amendment 74, property owners who face a drop in property values due to government regulations – such as not being allowed to drill for oil and gas – sue for reimbursement

The top funder of the pro-74/anti-112 effort is Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy and Energy Independent, a.k.a. Protect Colorado, which spent $6.9 million in the most recent reporting period, Oct. 11-24, according to finance reports reviewed Tuesday.

That included $3.18 million in contributions to the Committee for Colorado’s Shared Heritage, which backs Amendment 74. Out of the $11.23 million Shared Heritage has raised, all but $10,000 came from Protect Colorado, which gets its money almost entirely from the oil and gas industry.

The committee has faced criticism for at least two deceptive mailers that claim The Gazette of Colorado Springs continues to endorse Amendment 74. The Gazette retracted an earlier endorsement Oct. 10, but the two mailers surfaced well after that date.

The previous fundraising and spending record on a Colorado ballot measure was for the fight over Amendment 68 in 2014, which dealt with racetrack betting at casinos. Proponents raised $19.2 million and spent $18.5 million. Opponents raised $16.2 million and spent $15.7 million.

This year, Protect Colorado has spent at least $27 million just to fight Proposition 112, and that doesn’t include spending on TV ads from Noble Energy or several other issue committees formed in the past week that also advocate for the measure’s defeat.

Protect Colorado reports it has spent $18.27 million on advertising that does not appear to be tied to Amendment 74 and another $8.46 million for legal costs and campaign management. Its total spending in the 2018 campaign season now tops $38 million.

Protect Colorado has raised $41 million in cash and in-kind contributions to back Amendment 74 and urge the defeat of Proposition 112, which would establish a 2,500-foot setback from occupied structures for new oil and gas development.

Another $400,000 has been raised by a new committee – the Spirit of Colorado – backed primarily by rancher Steve Wells and Wells Ranch in Weld County. Noble Energy reportedly leases 80 percent of the ranch’s 32,000 acres; PDC Energy leases the rest. The Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank that doesn’t disclose its donors, also has made small contributions to the committee.

A last-minute rush to boost the fight against Proposition 112 has led to the formation in the past week of several other issue committees, including one backed by Exxon Mobil Corp.: No on 112, which has yet to report any spending, and an issue committee formed by the Colorado chapter of the Koch Brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity.

That also does not include spending by Noble Energy, which has been running TV ads against Proposition 112 and does not have to disclose under Colorado law how much it is spending on those ads.

The main committee backing Proposition 112, Colorado Rising for Health and Safety, has raised a total of $986,414 and spent $818,585. The anti-Amendment 74 committee Save Our Neighborhoods has raised $6.5 million and spent $5.9 million. A third committee backing Proposition 112 and opposed to Amendment 74 and tied to the Washington, D.C.-Earthworks Action Fund has raised about $46,000.

In the most recent reporting period, the anti-Amendment 74 committee Save Our Neighborhoods got its biggest funding boost of the campaign season: $3 million from the progressive New York-based Sixteen Thirty Fund, which is run by Eric Kessler, who managed conservation initiatives in the Clinton administration.

Sixteen Thirty, as a 501(c)4, doesn’t disclose its donors, but it has put $10.9 million into Colorado campaigns in the last six years, almost all of it in the 2018 election cycle. And the fund’s donations this election has made it this year’s biggest dark money donor backing Democrats.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund has been very busy in the most recent reporting cycle, with $4.3 million in contributions to four Democrat-aligned committees, led by the $3 million given to the anti-74 campaign.

The fund gave $400,000 to the independent expenditure committee (IEC) that supports Democratic attorney general candidate Phil Weiser. Another $545,000 went to Coloradans Creating Opportunities, which backs Democrats for the General Assembly. And $365,000 went to the issue committee that asks voters to cap payday loan interest and fees at 36 percent by passing Proposition 111.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund is the largest donor to Coloradoans to Stop Predatory Payday Loans, with total contributions at $2.03 million. The committee has raised only $100,000 outside of the fund’s contributions.

In September, the fund also put $920,000 into Good Jobs Colorado, an IEC that backs Democrat Jared Polis for governor.

Among Republican dark money groups, one of the newest players is Citizens for Truth, which has been running ads against Polis. The independent expenditure committee, which was formed on Oct. 9, has spent $1.85 million on those ads. Its major funder is another dark money group, Colorado Taxpayers’ Advocate Fund, which has no website, Facebook page or other online presence and isn’t registered with the state campaign finance system.

Citizens for Truth, the Colorado Taxpayers’ Advocate Fund and Better Colorado Now, the PAC that backs Republican Walker Stapleton for governor, are all housed in the same place, 2318 Curtis St. in Denver. The registered agent for Colorado Citizens for Truth is Stapleton’s attorney, John Zakhem.

In the most recent reporting period, Oct. 11-24, 10 new independent expenditure committees have popped up, with names like Change Campaign Super PAC-CO. This IEC is based in Washington, D.C. and backs Democrats for statewide elected office nationwide. Its parent organization is the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has close ties to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The committee’s website doesn’t yet list any candidates in Colorado nor report any spending here. According to Open Secrets, the committee spent $5.8 million in 2016 and has so far spent $6.7 million in 2018.

Another IEC formed Monday is from Compass Colorado, which is run by Republican strategist Kelly Maher, who also is the spokesperson for the Amendment 74 campaign. Its mission is to defeat Polis.

The first IEC to back Republican incumbent Wayne Williams – the Washington, D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee – was formed in the past week and spent $25,000 on advertising to support Williams. The committee is largely backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.