Colorado Succession, Are They High?

Not since the Civil war has a state osmosed into two states, but there are some folks in the rural north east of Colorado who are rejecting the kush smoking, non-gun touting ways on the big city Denver elites that are running the state. No, seriously, their are people in Colorado that will have the option to direct their chunk of the state to secede and form a new state.

An actual store in Denver

Weld County, Colorado commissioners this Tuesday announced a plan to publish a series of editorials in support of the 51st state initiative, an initiative directed at exploring the possibility of several Colorado counties breaking ties with the state and forming a new state of North Colorado. They presently have plans to release the series before early voting begins and Weld County residents voice whether they wish to secede from Colorado. The commissioners of the county leading the charge for seceding from Colorado and forming North Colorado have begun a campaign of editorials about their cause. The Weld County Commission will post arguments for breaking away -- in this case, on their government website. The first installment includes statements like "For too long we have endured the arrogance and, yes, elitism of the state legislature and the Governor’s Office. They mock us, they refuse to listen and they dismiss our concerns."

The initial publication from the county commissioners appears to lack and truly substantive arguments, but appears to simply brace us for following articles that will flesh out their case and concerns in the coming weeks. There are some articles throughout the website, though not directly tied to the succession story, that cite more specific points where voiced concerns from the county fall on death ears at the state level that have had negative impacts on the rural area of Weld County, such as the following specific examples;

 In 2009, the Colorado Water Board Commission made changes of the Flood Plain rule, taking it from a 100-year rule to a 500-year rule. While these rules have little impact on Front Range communities, they have a huge impact on rural Colorado. For example, this rule will force smaller communities in the rural sections of the state to endure huge expenses in the future when faced with the need to upgrade their water treatment plants; an egregious example of no oversight, no justification and no fiscal impact review. In my opinion, this rule change results in a large taking of private property rights with no benefit, in most cases, to the general public 

-and-

What many farmers and ranchers deem as the straw that broke the camel’s back, Senate Bill 252, 
signed into law this summer, increased the mandate that rural electric utility companies produce a percentage of their energy by renewable resources from 10% to 20% – an idea so ‘good’ the urban areas served by city-owned utilities and private corporations exempted themselves from the increase.

I have to do a double take, these are some serious grievenses but surely secession is an extreme reaction, even if these do span over the period of years. IF a new state would be created on the border of Nebraska, many questions would have to be answered. Would money be owed to Colorado 'Prime' by the new state for infrastructure investment? What would the initial constitution look like? What college football conference would they be a demographic for? And, of course, where can I toke up?

I jest, but I'm very interested in what this process looks like and if they are even allowed to 'proceed' should a majority of North Coloradians vote in favor of succession this fall.