Issue Position: Environment and Energy

Issue Position

I believe we should do everything in our power to protect our air, water, and soil from polluters, put human health and well-being first, and safeguard our habitat for future generations. The overwhelming consensus of climate scientists is that climate change is real and man-made, and so I support a just and equitable transition to all-renewable energy as quickly as possible.

Colorado voters are clear on this issue, and getting louder about it every day -- climate change is a catastrophic threat to human life and bold action is justified and necessary. Keeping global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels is absolutely critical if we are to carry on as a species. This is just one reason to keep fossil fuels in the ground and employ clean and renewable energy sources. It will also reduce pollution and improve air quality, and generate employment and economic growth at a much more reliable rate than fossil fuel extraction or processing. And even if none of these things were reason enough, fossil based fuel sources are not replenishing themselves. We can only continue like this for so long before they are all exhausted.

Nearly two-thirds of Colorado's 60,000 oil and gas wells are fracking sites, in which we are quite literally blowing up the ground beneath us in a desperate attempt to get at the last dredges of natural gas deposits. This practice is extremely wasteful, damaging to our environment, and leads to toxic byproducts that risk the health and safety of the communities they drill near. We're fortunate in HD-16 to not have these risks, but my heart breaks for rural Coloradans who have these monstrosities right in their own backyard. The sooner we can shut down these wells and get all households and businesses on safe and renewable energy sources, the better.

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