The Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan has hit another roadblock as it tries to put an anti-fracking proposal on the November 2018 ballot.
Last year the group starting gathering signatures in an effort to get the issue before voters this November. It collected more than 200,000 signatures but needed more than 250,000 by June – and failed to reach that goal. Rather than start from scratch, the committee now wants to use the signatures it already has toward the 252,523 needed to get on the ballot in two years.
At issue is a state law that says signatures aren't any good after 180 days. The committee asked a judge to declare the law unconstitutional. But the court says it won’t consider the challenge because the committee doesn't have the required number of signatures, even if they combined the old ones with those it has gathered more recently. The judge says that amounts to a hypothetical question, something the court can't consider.
LuAnne Kozma is the anti-fracking group's campaign director. She says, “People shouldn’t have to expend all this money and time before getting a declaratory judgment on an unconstitutional law. Especially an election law.”
Kozma says the committee will appeal the decision but will continue gathering new signatures.
“When we get enough signatures we’ll be submitting them for approval and then this whole process will continue from that point: probably another lawsuit,” she said. “And then they’ll hear the case on the merits, which is about the unconstitutionality of the 180-day statute.”
Although the next election is still a ways off, Kozma is confident that fracking will be on the November 2018 ballot.
“We know that this issue of banning fracking is very important to people,” she said. “Banning fracking and frack waste has become a national issue, it’s certainly an issue in Michigan. And we’re certain we’re going to collect enough signatures and push this all the way through.”
(Michigan Public Radio Network)