Ensuring clean, quality air, water, and land should be a bipartisan issue in Colorado. And for most Coloradans, it is — just not in your State Legislature.
According to Keating Research, 81% of Coloradans want our state to reduce carbon emissions by 35% by 2030. Furthermore, 83% of Coloradans agree we should be taking steps now to take control of Colorado’s energy future, instead of waiting for the federal government.
As an elected official, that research clearly tells me Coloradans want our state to be the leaders in clean, renewable energy. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have a very different read on the direction Coloradans want to go.
Some of those colleagues came up with Senate Bill 226, a bill to prohibit Colorado from being part of any state-level climate collaboration that attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This backwards measure passed the Senate on a party-line vote.
This is a barely-disguised ploy to prevent Colorado from being involved in the U.S. Climate Alliance, which Governor Hickenlooper signed onto last summer. The Climate Alliance is a state-led set of voluntary goals committed to when President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. In singling out climate change alliances, our State Senators belie the true intent of their bill: to prevent Colorado from making the necessary energy transitions to prevent man-made climate change and maintain our way of life.
That way of life is threatened most urgently from drought. Colorado snowpack levels are at 69% of normal, so low that nearly a quarter of the state is under an extreme drought designation. This not only hurts our $4.8 billion ski industry, it also means we will be scrambling to store more water in reservoirs, and our streams and rivers will be depleted. And forecasts by state officials indicate Colorado could be in for its worst wildfire year since the historic fire seasons of 2012 and 2013.
The worst part of this story is that this year is becoming the norm. Colorado’s average temperature has already warmed by two degrees Fahrenheit in the last 30 years. Our winters are starting later and ending earlier every year. This is climate change, and it’s happening because of the carbon pollution we are adding to our atmosphere. The environmental and economic impact of impact if we refuse to address carbon emissions is disastrous.
Not only is refusing to act dangerous to our future, it goes against the will of the people. From the same Keating Research study, 72% of Coloradans say Governor Hickenlooper should move forward with a Colorado-specific plan to reduce Colorado’s carbon emissions by increasing the use of wind and solar power and reducing the use of coal power and 61% say he should sign-on to a declaration that Colorado will meet the commitments to fight climate change that were made in the Paris Climate Agreement, the very goal of the Climate Alliance SB18-226 is aimed at dismantling.
The people of Colorado entrust their legislators to listen to their constituents and use their best judgment in charting a path forward. SB18-226 clearly goes against the wishes of Coloradans and is most certainly in bad judgment.
State Senator Rhonda Fields is and Aurora Democrat representing state Sen. District 29.