Colorado To Secede? Rural Counties Want To Form New State

A few rural communities in North Colorado want to secede and become their own state.

According to the Coloradan, a group of county commissioners are pursuing a plan to secede from Colorado over concerns that their voices are being ignored by the state.

Sean Conway, a commissioner in Weld County, said: “I know you think, wow, this is crazy when you first hear about it, but then you realize that five of our states — Vermont, Maine, Tennessee, Wyoming and Kentucky — came about in this fashion, and the circumstances were very similar to what we’re going through now.”

Conway said that commissioners from other counties have been having informal talks about seceding from the state and added that a measure may be placed on the November ballot in Weld County to find out if voters agree with the plan.

Conway, a Republican, said that recent legislation passed by Colorado has threatened his communities way of life. According to KDVR, the commissioner is referring to new laws on gun control and the expansion of oil and gas production. The straw that broke the camel’s back, however, came this week when Gov. John Hickenlooper signed S.B. 252, a bill that would increase “renewable energy standard for rural electric co-ops.”

Conway said: “I have never seen a legislative session like this. They ignore us. They don’t listen to us. It started with the gun control bills and came to a head this week with S.B. 252 being signed… Our voices are being ignored in the legislative process this year and our very way of life is under attack.”

Conway said that commissioners from rural counties would hold hearings over the next few weeks with the hopes of bringing a vote to the community in November. It’s unclear what counties want to secede from Colorado but Conway said that Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma counties have all been involved in the first round of talks.

Conway said: “We’re not excluding anybody. We don’t know how many counties this could be. There’s been discussions that this could include the entire Eastern Plains of Colorado eventually.”

Here’s a video of Weld Commissioner Doug Rademacher talking about issue.

The northern part of Colorado may be getting some support in their attempt to secede but House Speaker Mark Ferrandino believes that the idea is ill-conceived.

Ferrandino said: “This is one of those cases where you don’t get what you want, so there’s no compromise… It’s my way or the highway — that’s what we’re hearing from Commissioner Conway. They don’t like the direction things are going, even though the voters spoke in November.”