Colorado’s oil and gas producers are strapped for cash and continue to suffer big financial losses this year.

But that hasn’t kept several of them from donating a combined $6.3 million to defeat four ballot initiatives they argue will greatly limit where they can drill in the state, according to campaign finance reports from the Colorado secretary of state.

“The stakes are so high that the industry and the funders of this campaign really think it has to be an all-out fight,” said Karen Crummy, a spokeswoman for Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy and Energy Independence.

Nine publicly traded energy companies contributed almost all of the $6.3 million raised this year by Protect Colorado. They did so despite reporting a combined loss of $3.1 billion in the first quarter.

The other side has raised less than $58,000 via grassroots efforts this year, suggesting a case of overkill. But the industry has a genuine fear that if any of the initiatives pass, it could put at risk the billions they have invested in mineral rights, leases and infrastructure.

Protect Colorado is the issue committee created to fight off the initiatives, three of which — 63, 75 and 78 — are supported by Yes for Health and Safety over Fracking. Initiative 40 is backed by Coloradans for Community Rights.

The measures differ in their approach, but all give local communities a greater say over oil and gas drilling within or near their boundaries. Initiative 40 takes it a step further, allowing local governments to define or limit the rights and powers of any kind of business within their boundaries.

“Whatever city councils don’t like, they will be able to kick out of a city,” said Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for Vital for Colorado, a coalition representing more than 56,000 businesses, chambers and other associations.

Vital for Colorado has urged its members to support Protect Colorado financially, but so far, energy companies are fronting the money for the fight.

The two biggest donors, Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy, in the past year have sold off holdings, laid off workers and slashed dividends to shore up their deteriorating financial positions.

Despite that belt-tightening, they contributed $3 million and $2.5 million, respectively, to Protect Colorado this year to oppose the initiatives.

“We recognize allowing these ballot initiatives to pass would effectively ban oil and natural gas development in our state,” said Robin Olsen, a local spokeswoman for Anadarko, which is headquartered in a Houston suburb.

An industry study estimates that changing the setback for oil and gas operations from 500 feet to 2,500 feet away from occupied structures, as proposed in Initiative 78, would eliminate 87 percent of future drilling sites in Weld County, Crummy said.

Passage of the anti-fracking initiatives would put more than 1,100 Anadarko jobs in the state at risk, as well as thousands more tied to service providers and vendors, Olsen said.

“Our contribution to Protect Colorado is a demonstration of our commitment to ensure the public knows the important role that the oil and natural gas industry plays in the state,” said Brian Miller, a spokesman for Houston-based Noble Energy.

One of the first visible signs of the $6.3 million donated will be eight billboards around the metro area asking people to “Know what you are signing” and “Think before you ink.”

Three of the signs were scheduled to go up Wednesday in Denver, with the rest going up in coming weeks. All are intended to prevent initiative backers from gathering the 98,492 valid signatures each of the four measures need by Aug. 8 to make the November ballot.

Crummy says the signs also should give a boost to opponents of other ballot measures that are gathering signatures.

Yes for Health has raised a comparatively modest $51,420, the bulk of that coming from Boulder retiree Patricia Olsen. Coloradans for Community Rights has raised even less: $5,732. Efforts to reach the two groups for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The modest contributions raises the question of whether oil and gas firms are diverting millions of dollars of limited cash to fight a phantom menace.

Crummy said the industry two years ago was caught off guard by anti-drilling initiatives and can’t wait to act until bigger environmental groups show up with millions to support the pro-initiative side.

The Colorado Supreme Court this week rejected fracking bans and moratoriums by Longmont and Fort Collins, calling them “invalid and unenforceable.”

The decision could bolster support for Initiative 75, which would allow local rules on drilling to trump state regulations.

After years of fighting, the battle over local controls on oil and gas drilling appears headed to a final showdown.

“They have had a string of losses for the past year,” Coolidge said of efforts to more closely regulate oil and gas. “We see this as their final Hail Mary to try and shoehorn this into the state constitution.”