The plan to have eight counties in northeast Colorado secede and form a 51st state -- behold, North Colorado -- is still not likely to happen. But the longer the county commissioners talk about it, the clearer their reasoning becomes. From the local Post Independent:
"I know that initially you're kinda like, 'Wow, it's a little out there,' " [Weld County Commissioner] Conway said. But he said a new state would be economically viable.With an assessed value of $7.5 billion this year and continued announcements from Noble Energy, Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and others planning to invest billions more on drilling in the region, more money could go to ignored infrastructure and to education, which commissioners said is seriously underfunded in Weld County.
It's true that conservative, rural voters are mad about gun reform and new laws about energy and farming, but what makes the idea of North Colorado possible is oil and, specifically, oil money. If you live in one of the eight counties -- Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma or Kit Carson -- please holler out.