Colorado has a fracking problem

Noelle Phillips for The Denver Post, my new weekend paper now that we are out of the Financial Times’ distribution zone: Colorado’s oil and gas regulators studied health problems tied to drilling. Critics ask: Why will nothing change? The headline does not scream riveting reading, so before you click here is a short story about our family’s recent journey that may put it in context. We moved to Colorado in great part for more space and an opportunity to spend more time outdoors. The small towns north and northwest of Denver, in Boulder Valley County, were particularly appealing: great schools, kind-of affordable houses — their proximity to billionaire-laden Boulder got them within striking distance of DC — close enough to the foothills that a trip in the mountains does not take a full day of planning yet far enough that mountain fires should not be as big of a concern. [Note: Here, too, a caveat. There has in fact been a major fire in the area, not from wood but rather acres of dry…