Last November, Colorado voters defeated Proposition 112, a ballot measure that would have imposed significant new limits on oil and gas drilling. This month, the state’s senate advanced legislation that would have much the same impact, if the state house and governor give their assent as expected.

By no means will the new law end energy production in Colorado. But it will for the first time allow city and county governments to use planning and land-use powers to regulate drilling, and with a mandate to prioritize public health and the environment. At a minimum, that means more hurdles for companies to jump through before they drill or build new midstream infrastructure, at least in some jurisdictions.

As our feature article highlights, the “Centennial State” isn’t the only place in the US that’s tightening regulation of energy companies. Even Oklahoma has ramped up industry oversight in recent years, following a dramatic increase in earthquakes.

Energy stocks are showing real signs 2019 will be the year they break out of a nearly five-year slump.

Both the S&P 500 Energy Index and the Alerian MLP Index posted total returns in the low teens for the first two months of 2019. That’s energy stocks’ best start to a calendar year since 2013, when those two indexes finished up 25 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively, en route to making all-time highs.

Benchmark WTI Cushing crude started 2013 in the low $90s per barrel, briefly broke down to the mid-$80s in April, then hit a high of $110 plus in late August before closing the year right around $100. Henry Hub gas, meanwhile, traded between $4 and $5 per thousand cubic foot for most of the year.

Those prices are a far cry from where we are now. But the trajectory of the commodities themselves has been generally encouraging in recent months. So is the fact that energy midstream master limited partnerships weren’t left out of this uptrend, as they were when oil rallied last year.