An update on the CORA request bill HB24-1296. SB24-159, which ends drilling in CO, is up for committee on 3/14. It's time to put a stop to extreme ballot box proposals re. animals.
Despite LOTS of testimony against it in its committee hearing Monday, the bill passed with some amendments. More context on the amendments in the CFOIC story linked first below.
And it passed with both R's and D's voting yes (although some D's did join the no's too).
I was talking to Senator Tom Sullivan the other day on the phone. I had called his office to tell him my thoughts on his yes vote for Senator Fenberg's rewriting of open meetings law for the Colorado General Assembly.
Surprisingly (and likely because his assistant didn't tell him why I'd called), he called back and discussed the vote with me. He reminded me that when Fenberg's bill went to the Senate floor there was no opposition from Republicans.
I told him that, to me, this issue (government transparency) has not been one so much of Republican vs. Democrat as it is of legislators vs. the people.
That is, the issue here isn't one along party lines. It's one where an arrogant group of politicians have no compunctions about limiting the public's ability to see what they're doing. And they do this in direct defiance of voters saying they want more transparency.
I take this CORA vote the same way. This is legislators thumbing their nose at everyday Coloradans like you and me. I intend to continue to advocate against this bill and have added it to my testimony list. I will try to catch it in the Senate.
If you feel similarly, the link to the bill is below the CFOIC story.
https://coloradofoic.org/amended-cora-bill-requires-a-government-entity-to-prove-a-records-requester-is-vexatious/
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1296
The bill to end drilling in this state, SB24-159, is up for committee on 3/14.
Among other things, SB24-159 will ...
--clamp down on oil and gas in this state with yet more regulations imposed via the unelected Energy and Carbon Management Commission
and
--end the issuance of new drilling permits by January 1, 2030.
We have finally arrived at what the more extreme environmentalists (and the extreme Democrats who support and listen to them) have wanted for years now: an end to drilling and oil exploration in this state.
Regardless of the economic costs and dislocation.
Regardless of the impact this will have on the tax base in this state.
Regardless of the impact this will have on the families who depend on oil and gas for their living.**
This is bad policy. This extreme.
I intend to try and testify against this one remotely and urge you to do the same. At the very least, consider written testimony, an email, or a phone call -- especially to Senator Dylan Roberts a rare moderate Democrat on the committee.
I wrote an email and will send it today in advance of (I hope) testifying. If it's helpful, you'll find it below the bill link.
**There's another "just transition" planned here. And if you wonder whether or not it will be an actual help, pop on over to Craig, CO and ask those folks what they think of theirs.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-159
cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov
byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
rod.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
jessie.danielson.senate@coleg.gov
dylan.roberts.senate@coleg.gov
sonya.jaquez.lewis.senate@coleg.gov
kevin.priola.senate@coleg.gov
andrew.boesenecker.house@coleg.gov
julia.marvin.house@coleg.gov
An open email to the sponsors of SB24-159 Mod to Energy & Carbon Management Processes and the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
Hello to all,
My name is Cory Gaines. I am a lifelong Colorado resident.
I hope to testify against SB24-159 remotely at the hearing on 3/14, but, in case I am unable, I am sending this email and also posting this to the record for this bill.
Unfortunately, environmental issues in this state are commonly framed along two broad lines. The first is that immediate action is needed and is needed at the state level to prevent and/or mitigate climate change. The second is that if you take issue with the method of the response, it is because you deny climate change or that you are heartlessly unconcerned with the environment.
I say unfortunately here because this framing forces us into an unnecessary, and unhealthy, dialog about how to meet the challenges we face; we are forced into a false either/or.
As a father, I am concerned about the environment which I pass along to my daughter. I am also concerned about feeding her, clothing her, and keeping her warm in the here and now. Both are equally important to me.
Efforts like those in SB24-159 ignore the simple and undeniable reality of the world we live in: we as a state are making a tiny contribution to the emissions of greenhouse gases, we will need fossil fuels for some time to come, and there are millions in this state who depend on our local fossil fuel industry.
What will shutting that industry down do to affect global climate and emissions?
What will shutting that industry down do to our national security, sovereignty, and defense when we are short on domestic production?
What will shutting that industry down do to the tax base that fossil fuels represent to this state?
What will this do to the families who make their living in this field? The law contains the same kind of "just transition" that was put in for coal workers in Craig. Perhaps we should ask them what they think of their transition thus far.
Our efforts to adapt to climate change are better focused elsewhere. This bill will do little except make life harder in this state and drive yet more economic hardship.
Vote no on this bill and let's spend our time focusing on policy that has more centrist realism behind it.
C
Related:
The bill above is one of a few that Senator Priola (see his page below) is on.
He is, by virtue of redistricting, the state senator for a good piece of Weld County, one of the biggest oil producing counties in Colorado, and one of the more conservative.
Gosh, you can just imagine how satisfied the residents in his district must be with his "representation" thus far.
If you're one, I'd normally say that you should contact him, but I'm not going to here. If you have a spare minute and want to, please. Just don't do so in the hopes to persuade him.
He's term limited and has made it clear in past sessions that he just doesn't give a ripe f**K what his constituents think.
https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/kevin-priola
It's time to put a stop to extreme ballot box proposals by animal rights and environmental groups.
Take a second and read the extended quote from Mrs. Gabel's op ed below.
"A ballot proposal in the city and county of Denver would criminalize the sale of that [felt] cowboy hat. It would also criminalize the sale of many of the beautiful, artisan Native American items sold at the Denver March Powwow, now in its 48th year, and the Colorado Indian Market and Southwest Art Fest. And as sportsmen gather for the International Sportsmen’s Expo, there will be no legal avenue to purchase fishing flies, hand tied by masters, that use tiny bits of wild fur. These are merely a few of the effects of one of the proposals to ban fur sales. The proposal to ban slaughterhouses in Denver is equally nefarious, and the effects of that will reach lamb consumers and producers from coast to coast. The primary facility affected if the proposal were to pass is Superior Farms, the largest lamb processor in the state and the source of nearly all the lamb found in restaurants and grocery stores in Colorado and the United States at Walmart, Kroger, HEB and 19 other grocery retailers."
And now put this next to the proposed ban on "trophy" hunting of mountain lions that's coming to the entire state (covered in more detail later in the same Gabel op ed).
Can we call wolf reintroduction the high water mark of extreme animal rights initiatives passing in this state? I hope so, a strong "NO" vote on the current batch (and/or a failure to make the ballot) would go a long way to chilling future efforts.
Doing so, however, will require exactly what is in the headline of Gabel's op ed: we need to have reasonable Front Range residents voting against them and speaking against them.
If you're reading this page, I'm likely preaching to the choir, so what I want to recommend to you is that you reach out to people that you know along the Front Range and start a discussion with them about it. Ask them (if they agree with you) to do likewise with their friends.
Consider, too, either writing a letter to the editor of a paper in the Front Range or asking someone you know that is a good writer to do same.
People along the Front Range may not have any conception of what hunting is or what Ag looks like but you're wise to not assume that they are unwilling to learn. You will not know until you try.
Toward that end, check out the Gazette op ed linked below. It discusses some research that points to the idea that perhaps nature is more complicated than we thought, and that simply wishing for a particular outcome (or thinking that it's commonsense) is not a guarantee that we'll get what we want.
To wit, that wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone may not have done what many have claimed, that it didn't straighten out the ecosystem quite as neatly as some thought. Worth keeping in your pocket to share with others.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/time-for-reasonable-front-rangers-to-recognize-wildlife-extremism-gabel/article_637d7a5c-d2b2-11ee-8331-576a259a049c.html
https://denvergazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-ballot-box-biology-will-backfire-on-colorado/article_1dd4efd5-cff8-5b33-8e1c-32673ea75ef6.html
Related:
Found this during my wanderings on the internet.
One common thing I've seen cited in the arguments against things like the initiative to ban mountain lion hunting (and against wolf reintroduction) is an appeal for this state to follow the "North American Model of Wildlife Conservation".
If you, like me, have wondered what exactly that is, check out the PDF below.
https://savethehuntcolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/North-American-model-of-Wildlife-Conservation.pdf