How a Canadian pension fund is financing drilling along Colorado’s Front Range

By Daniel Glick, The Story Group 

It’s a familiar story: a rich country develops oil fields in a heavily indebted nation with lax environmental regulations. Local residents object, claiming that oil and gas extraction degrades their air, water and quality of life. Protests mount as the foreign energy company steamrolls the permitting process. Locals appeal to elected officials, who are powerless to intervene. The rich country tries to influence local elections in the foreign country. Complaints about spills and leaks pour in. Lawsuits fly. There are rumblings that civil disobedience may erupt if the foreign developers continue marching through the countryside.

This scene has been repeated around the world; in Nigeria, Ecuador, Indonesia and elsewhere. In what economists call the “resource curse,” countries with minerals or oil are exploited by foreign powers and end up with damaged land, poisoned waters and sullied air.

In a new twist to an old tale, however, the “foreign developer” in this case is Canada, and the “neighbor” is the United States. Specifically, Boulder County, Colorado.

Read the entire story here.