Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Monday Aug. 4 an 11th-hour deal with environmental groups to keep anti-fracking initiatives off the state ballot in November.

The deal centers on the formation of an 18-person task force “charged with crafting recommendations to help minimize land use conflicts that can occur when siting oil and gas facilities near homes, schools, businesses and recreational areas,” according to a statement released by the governor’s office August 4, the same day that signed petitions for ballot measures were due to the Colorado secretary of state’s office. The task force will be helmed by La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt and Randy Cleveland, president of XTO Energy Inc.

“The work of this task force will provide an alternative to ballot initiatives that, if successful, would have regulated the oil and gas industry through the rigidity of constitutional amendments and posed a significant threat to Colorado’s economy,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in the statement.

At the same press conference, Congressman Jared Polis, who had previously been a leader in the anti-fracking ballot initiatives, backed the governor’s compromise. “I know for many today's announcement will not go far enough, but I believe it's just the beginning of the next chapter,” the Democratic congressman wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page. “For the first time in this fight, citizens will have a seat at the negotiating table. They will be able to negotiate directly to protect their property rights, homes values, clean water, and air quality with the oil and gas industry.”

As a gesture of good faith, Hickenlooper asked the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to dismiss its pending lawsuit against the city of Longmont challenging its fracking ordinance. He also asked all parties to drop their anti-fracking ballot initiatives.

But not everyone was on board with the governor's plan. In a statement posted on its website Monday, Coloradans for Safe and Clean Energy stated it was still planning to submit petition signatures for initiatives 88 and 89 (which establish a mandatory setback between rigs and homes and create a so-called Environmental Bill of Rights, respectively) to the Secretary of State’s office. "Until we receive confirmation that industry has withdrawn initiatives 121 and 137, our campaign is moving forward," according to the statement. Initiative 121 would keep municipalities that prohibit oil and gas development from receiving revenues associated with the industry, while Initiative 137 would require proponents of ballot initiatives to include a fiscal impact estimate earlier in the ballot initiative process. "We would be happy to meet with our opponents at the Secretary of State’s office to mutually withdraw all four initiatives at an agreed upon time."

From a markets perspective, the announcement was good news for D-J Basin players, as the initiative on revenues from oil and gas remained alive. Bloomberg reported that oil producers led by Noble Energy Inc. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. rose after the deal was announced. Noble led the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, gaining 5.2% to $70.23 at the close in New York Monday, after earlier having its biggest intraday rise in more than five years. Anadarko increased 4.8% to $110.73.

“From what we understand, the initiative to keep oil/gas revenues from local municipalities that ban fracking is still moving forward,” according to a Monday afternoon email from Wells Fargo analyst David Tameron. “Additional details are forthcoming, but the announcement is a positive for names with D-J exposure, in our view—within within our universe, this includes BBG, PDCE, WLL, CRZO, APC, and NBL.”

But Tameron was more cautious as the day wore on. In an early Tuesday morning equity research report, Tameron noted not all parties had agreed to the compromise as of Monday night.

"Feels like that should be forthcoming and feels like industry would want to compromise and remove risk from the equation," according to the report. "But as we discussed with a few parties on Monday afternoon, if industry feels like they will defeat both initiatives...and the pro-industry initiatives stand a chance to pass, we guess there is a possibility that industry could take their chances and try to end the debate once and for all. And industry might also have the backing of the state Republican party. So while we continue to view Monday's development as very positive, not quite done yet."

Updated Aug. 5 2014 at 8:23 a.m. CST.