![Retired school teacher Elaine Doudna joins about 20 other protesters outside City Hall in downtown Colorado Springs, Colo., as they speak out against fracking for oil and gas in El Paso County before a city council meeting. "It's something I really, really feel strong about, " Doudna said. Citizen fears about hydraulic fracturing, a drilling procedure used to pry oil and gas from rock deep underground, have made "fracking" the hottest political question in Colorado. Opposition to fracking has also surfaced in Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock, File)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/dentonfracking/20141113184641im_/http://fuelfix.com/files/2014/05/Gas-Drilling-Western-Politics.JPEG-01081-306x203.jpg)
BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder County commissioners are deciding whether to extend a ban on new oil and gas development in unincorporated parts of the county.
The moratorium is set to end on Jan. 1, 2015 and commissioners are meeting Thursday to decide whether to continue it or change it.
The Daily Camera reported that more than 100 people attended a hearing on the moratorium Monday in Longmont and none of them spoke in favor of lifting it.
The group Frack-Free Boulder is asking commissioners to extend the moratorium until at least 2018, the year after a National Science Foundation-funded study on drilling impacts is expected to be completed at the University of Colorado.
There are currently 194 active oil and gas wells in unincorporated areas and county open space.
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