Water First. Children First. Communities First.
I believe Colorado’s environment is not a partisan issue — it is a survival issue. Our drinking water, our air, our forests, our rivers, and our public lands are the inheritance we pass to the next generation. As Governor, I will protect that inheritance.
My environmental priorities:
(A) STOPPING THE ECMC SUNLIGHT/LONG FRACKING APPROVAL NEAR THE AURORA RESERVOIR
I stand with Save the Aurora Reservoir (STAR), with Aurora and Arapahoe County families, and with every parent in Southshore, Tollgate Crossing, and surrounding neighborhoods who has fought this project for four years.
On April 22, 2026, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) approved 24 new oil and gas wells at the State Sunlight/Long pad — less than one mile from hundreds of Aurora homes and roughly 3,200 feet from the Southshore neighborhood, adjacent to Aurora’s primary drinking water source.
That decision is wrong, and I opposed it.
Peer-reviewed studies from Yale and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have shown children living within eight miles of oil and gas wells are two to three times more likely to develop leukemia and bone marrow cancer. During the 45-day public comment period, more than 1,500 residents weighed in — only four supported the project. The ECMC approved it anyway, on a 3-2 vote.
As Governor, I will:
- Direct ECMC, on Day One, to halt the Sunlight/Long pad and the broader Lowry Ranch CAP pending a full reassessment that gives community input the weight SB 19-181 promised.
- Establish a 2,000-foot statutory minimum setback between new oil and gas operations and any drinking water reservoir, school, hospital, or residential subdivision — with no waiver authority.
- Reform ECMC commissioner appointments so that no commissioner with an active oil-and-gas industry conflict can vote on permits affecting their former clients or employers.
- Open the door to local moratoria by removing state-law barriers that prevent counties and municipalities from saying no.
- Fund independent water and air monitoring at every existing pad on Lowry Ranch, paid for by operator severance fees, with results posted publicly in real time.
(B) WATER SECURITY
- Protect Colorado’s share of the Colorado River Compact in renegotiations.
- Fund aquifer recharge, stormwater capture, and water reuse infrastructure on the Front Range and Western Slope.
- End permits for any industrial use that consumptively depletes municipal drinking water sources without full mitigation.
(C) WILDFIRE & FOREST HEALTH
- Triple the state’s investment in fuels reduction, prescribed burns, and forest restoration on state lands.
- Expand the Colorado Wildland Fire Workforce — Coloradans, paid Coloradan wages, training the next generation.
- Hold utilities accountable for ignition risk through hardened standards.
(D) CLEAN ENERGY & GOOD JOBS
- Accelerate transition to renewables paired with union labor standards and a Just Transition fund for displaced fossil fuel workers in Weld, Garfield, Moffat, and Rio Blanco counties.
- Regulate AI data center water and energy consumption (see existing platform plank) so we don’t trade Colorado’s water for server farms.
(E) PUBLIC LANDS & WILDLIFE
- Protect the Dolores, the Yampa, and the Thompson Divide.
- Fully fund Colorado Parks and Wildlife and rural conservation easements.
