Proposition 112 Opponents Sit Down For First Debate

DENVER (CBS4) - For the first time, the opposing sides in what could be the most hard fought ballot measure this year went head to head in a debate.

Proposition 112 would require a 2,500 foot buffer between new oil and gas drilling in Colorado and any occupied structure or area that a local government declares vulnerable.

"So what have now under this measure is a 2,500 foot setback and you draw a circle around that and it becomes a mile across. Then pretty soon you've got concentric circles across the state which takes out 94 percent of the private land in the top five oil and gas producing counties in Colorado, effectively a ban on our industry," said Dan Haley, a Prop 112 opponent.

"(The impact) is overly exaggerated," said Heidi Henkel, a supporter of Prop 112. "I think there's a lot of times, too, that people don't realize that people who collected these signatures, people who signed this ballot initiative, are teachers, are school board members. They are people who would supposedly benefit from the severance taxes. But then we have schools that are -- we have three schools doing emergency evacuation drills. So at what point do we say that money trumps health and safety. So we say no."

Our 2018 Election partner, CPT 12, hosted the debate and CBS4's Political Specialist Shaun Boyd was one of the moderators. The entire debate airs on CPT12 on Friday at 7 p.m. See it in the video below: