A group of residents in Weld County Colorado are considering removing their entire county from Colorado to join Wyoming.
The effort is being led by the Weld County Wyoming political committee, created just under a year ago. The organization is working to get a measure added to the November 2021 ballot that would encourage county commissioners to “engage and explore the annexation of Weld County with the State of Wyoming’s Legislature.”
“Denver and Boulder have declared war not only on Weld County, but common sense itself with regulations designed to kill energy jobs,” according to one November post, according to the Hill. “Putting radical animal rights activists in positions of power over the ranching industry, two of Weld’s key economic drivers. They are also at war with small businesses. People who hold traditional values are vilified as racist homophobic (misogynist) bigots.”
An online petition to move the county to Wyoming has over 8,500 votes.
“Denver and Boulder are driving oil and gas out of the state. We are losing hundreds of jobs and millions in taxes. Now they are assaulting Weld County agriculture,” the petition says. “From chickens to cattle, to placing a vegan on the veterinarian state board. There are other reasons like the 2nd Amendment. Denver/Boulder have drove weapons manufacturers out of the state. Rural schools, hospitals and all rural communities are getting ignored. Denver/Boulder only care about Denver/Boulder.”
“Weld County’s values align more with Wyoming then Denver/Boulder,” the petition added.
A similar idea proposed in 2013 aimed to form a new state with several northern Colorado counties but failed. It passed in five of the 11 Colorado counties where it appeared on the ballot.