Category Archives: State reps

350 Colorado, Allied organizations, CO state level politics, CO state regulatory agencies, Colorado Rising, Polis administration, SB-181, State reps

MY REMARKS AT FRACK OF THE STATE, FRACK OF THE CLIMATE EVENT ON BEHALF OF THE LARIMER ALLIANCE, JANUARY 17, 2023

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Good morning, people. My name is Ed Behan and I am with the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, & the Environment.

Yesterday there were many celebrations of the life and times of the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr, and his lifelong quest for social justice. And now here we are demanding environmental justice. This is sometimes dismissed as not being a related issue. However I don’t think I need to remind folks that the efforts of Cultivando, the community around the Bella Romero Academy, and tribal groups who resisted the Dakota Access Pipeline and other extractive incursions on native lands, only serve to demonstrate that the issues are intertwined and always have been.

Three years ago, with the passage of Senate Bill 19-181, this State made the remarkable first step of reordering the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to prioritize the protection of our communities’ health, our safety, and our environment.

The Larimer Alliance has advocated for improved local regulation under the mandate of that legislation, as well as lobbied at the State level during rulemaking processes.

We are all here to mark progress made. . . but also to mark that the first step taken has been a stumbling one at best. While new rules have been enacted, and new monitoring standards have been crafted, it is clear that everything from bureaucratic inertia to outright discouragement of effective enforcement has hindered our progress. This legislature has the opportunity and the duty to correct that and keep us moving forward.

Today, as in his inaugural speech last week, the governor is supposed to reaffirm his commitment to Colorado achieving the goal of having its energy needs met by 100 % renewable sources by 2040. But you all have seen the figures, you know the reality of the thousands of oil and gas permits that have been approved since he took office in 2019, and the hundreds more in the permitting pipeline. I’ll take a leap here, give Mr. Polis the benefit of the doubt, and assume we achieve the goal of Colorado’s energy needs being carbon free by the goal date. . . but where is all this oil and gas that is being developed going? I assure you, if it is not being burned here in Colorado, it is being burned somewhere else. And my friends. . . THAT AIN’T CARBON NEUTRAL!

WE ALL KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, AND WE NEED TO HOLD OUR LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE TO SEE THAT IT HAPPENS. THANK YOU.

Local Politics and Elections, State reps

LARIMER ALLIANCE ENDORSES State senator Joann Ginal and Representatives Jeni arndt and Cathy Kipp for Re-election

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     The Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety & the Environment is a coalition of Northern Colorado citizens and groups committed to protecting Larimer County from harm by oil and gas development.  We aim to educate the public about this issue and ensure that local and state governments develop and implement policies that prioritize the protection of public health and safety, environmental quality, wildlife resources, and the integrity of public lands, in accordance with Colorado law.  

     Since our founding in 2019, the Alliance has been focused on oil and gas issues in Larimer County and greater Northern Colorado. Particular attention was given to new regulations enacted at the County level under the mandate of Senate Bill 19-181, a state reform which called for more protection of health, safety, and the environment by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), and allows more local control. 

    The current Board of County Commissioners enacted local regulations that were not in the spirit of SB-181. Both before and after the passage of those local rules, the Alliance provided input at the State level as new regulations on oil and gas were being drafted by the COGCC and the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC). This frequently includes consultation and collaboration with Larimer County’s representatives in the State Legislature.  

Our experience throughout this process has led us to endorse State Senator Joann Ginal in Senate District 14, Representative Jeni Arndt in House District 53, and Cathy Kipp in House District 52 for re-election in 2020. 

     With a 20- year career in bio-sciences specializing in reproductive endocrinology prior to her entering the Colorado legislature, Senator Ginal has long been concerned about the effects of oil and gas development on public health and the environment, and co-sponsored SB-181. She ran bills on the epidemiological effects of oil and gas development on nearby communities, as well as on the potential earthquake hazards presented by fracking.

     Representative Kipp serves on the House Energy and Environment Committee, closely tracking the new regulatory processes of both the COGCC and the AQCC. Representative Arndt serves on many committees. Her knowledge of water law is the reason why she has been appointed Vice-Chair of the Western Council of State Governments’ Agriculture and Water Committee. She is keenly aware of issues centered on the vast amount of water utilized in fracking processes. 

     Representatives Arndt and Kipp were both co-sponsors of SB-181 in the House. As new regulations were being formulated this year by the COGCC, all three of our Larimer County legislators signed a letter to support greater setbacks of oil and gas projects from homes, schools, and other sensitive locations. 

     We feel these public servants are paying quite appropriate attention to environmental issues in general and oil and gas regulatory issues in particular. It is our hope that they can continue their advocacy on behalf of Larimer County on these and other issues as they are re-elected to their seats in 2020. As ever, the Larimer Alliance stands ready to assist in educating and informing our representatives and the community at large as these issues march forward.