Greeley Tribune, May 17, 2017

We need to free ourselves from rule of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with another …”

Thus begins the document that birthed this country.

We need to remind ourselves that when a government body ceases to protect the rights and welfare of the governed, it must be banished so that the will of the governed can be amply represented.

Based on sentiment expressed by various groups and reported by this newspaper, such a body would appear to be the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Grievances expressed against this body read like the Declaration’s list against King George III.

Substitute COGCC for “he” and “him” and, with a few exceptions, all grievances listed have been leveled against the COGCC:

» COGCC has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

» COGCC has forbidden municipalities to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till COGCC’s Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, COGCC has utterly neglected to attend to them.

» COGCC has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

The Declaration of Independence removed our consent to be governed by a tyrant in Britain.

Perhaps we need to remove our consent to be governed by the COGCC and instruct our lawmakers to form a body with the best interests of the citizens at heart.

Carl Erickson, Greeley