Colorado Secede Map: Which Counties Are Lobbying For Colorado Secession? [VIDEO] New State North Colorado Refuge for Oil and Gas Rights

The American state of Colorao has stirrings of secession.  The Northern area of Colorado wants to be the 51st state and call itself "North Colorado".  

According to CBS Denver, Representatives from eight northern counties convened to "begin mapping the boundaries for the new state the say will represent the interests of rural Colorado."

The secession movement is the result of "a growing urban-rural divide".  State lawmakers in Denver are passing sweeping gun control legislation and calling for more renewable energy and less oil and gas production.  Oil and gas production is a big part of northern Colorado's economy.

Watch Colorado Secede Video Report here:

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway told Coloradoan.com: "Northern and Northeastern Colorado and our voices are being ignored in the legislative process this year, and our very way of life is under attack."

"This is not a stunt. This is a very serious deliberative discussion that's going on.  There's a real feeling that a lot of folks who come from the urban areas don't appreciate the contribution that many Coloradans contribute."

Officials from Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties were involved in the discussions.  According to Conway, Two counties in Nebraska are interested in joining the new state.

Conway said: "We need to figure out way to re-enfranchise the people who feel politically disenfranchised now and ignored."

Conway and his coalition are hoping to give voters the chance to decide on secession s in November through a ballot referendum.

Colorado Secession could be difficult. West Virginia was the last to state to secede, breaking from Virginia during the Civil War in 1863.  That was 14 years before Colorado was admitted to the Union. In order to form a new state, approval would be needed from voters, the Colorado General Assembly and U.S. Congress.

The movement does seem to have at least one supporter in Washington, US Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma Colorado.  Last month he told Denver 9 News: "The people of rural Colorado are mad, and they have every right to be.  The governor and his Democrat colleagues in the statehouse have assaulted our way of life, and I don't blame people one bit for feeling attacked and unrepresented by the leaders in our state."

Residents from more than 30 states, including Colorado and Texas, filed petitions to secede after President Barack Obama's reelection in November.