Fracking policy is a contentious issue that is increasingly being debated within state administrative agencies. Though scholars have revealed that stakeholders can be influential in federal rulemakings through framing, it is unclear whether groups at the state level are equally influential. This research employs a frame analysis approach to determine whether stakeholders use similar frames to those of federal groups, and whether they are comparably influential on regulatory outputs. I provide original interview data from a range of stakeholder groups and agency staff to unravel how stakeholders tried to influence the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's (COGCC) Statewide Groundwater Baseline Sampling and Monitoring Rule. This research confirms that stakeholder groups use similar frames to their counterparts in federal contexts. However, whether stakeholder framing efforts influenced the agency, was in part a function of their access, resources, and relationships to agency personnel. In this case, industry groups appeared to have an advantage, but this may shift based on the preference of the governor and which groups are invited to debate policy with agency personnel. This article concludes with a discussion of how scholars might consider evaluating stakeholder influence going forward.
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