Several Colorado communities recently made news for placing temporary moratoriums on fracking. Booming oil and gas production and an active environmental community has the state divided on hydrocarbon development issues.

The National Journal details the situation with a balanced piece that presents both points of view. When asked if fracking can be done safely, Fort Collins resident Kelly Giddens said, “I don’t know…I’m really concerned about well casing so deep underground. I don’t know if they can get that right. But I do have faith in the ingenuity of American minds and engineers and their ability to solve problems.”

Others are less equivocal. Sam Schabacker, the Mountain West regional director for Food and Water Watch, a national consumer and environmental group, answered the question this way:

“We believe fracking is fundamentally dangerous and unsafe. There is no way to control it.”

And yet another point of view is expressed by Mike King, executive director of the Colorado Natural Resources Department:

“The vast majority of people understand that we all use energy. And it’s something that we have to get our arms around, and when it comes to energy, there is no free lunch.”

For more on the fracking issue and what exactly the fragmented anti-fracking community opposes, read this recent piece by Amy Myers Jaffe (@AmyJaffeenergy).