BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 8 (UPI) — Voters in three Colorado cities approved anti-fracking initiatives by wide margins this week, which could have an impact on the controversial drilling process that has propelled the nation’s oil and gas boom. The votes Tuesday in Boulder, Fort Collins and Lafayette are particularly significant, notes a report in The New York Times, as Colorado has long been a major oil and gas producer. Furthermore, fracking — or hydraulic fracturing — has enjoyed bipartisan political support, including from its governor, John W. Hickenlooper, a former geologist. Colorado produced 49.3 million barrels of oil in 2012, a 26 percent increase from the 39.2 million barrels produced statewide in 2011, figures from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission show. Fracking involves pumping water, sand and chemicals deep underground into horizontal gas wells at high pressure to crack open hydrocarbon-rich shale and extract natural gas. The […]