Local Groups Criticize the State’s Climate Plan

“We really need the state to step up and play an important role in meeting the kinds of goals that are actually going to address the problem of global climate change.”

Greenhouse gas emissions were one of the areas identified in the state climate plan released by Governor John Hickenlooper last week. The 93-page document was created in accordance with a state house bill passed in 2013 and it lists recommendations in seven key areas including water, transportation, and agriculture.

However, some groups say the plan should have taken a stronger approach toward carbon emissions. One of those groups critical of the plan is the Colorado Coalition for a Livable Climate (CCLC.) Kevin Cross, with Fort Collins Community Action Network, a spokesperson for the CCLC, says they have three major concerns with the state’s plan.

“First it fails to acknowledge that we are not currently on track to meet Colorado’s green house gas emissions reductions goals that were established in 2008 by former Governor Ritter, second, because it failed to acknowledge the problem, it doesn’t put forward strategies that will get us back on track to meet those goals, and finally it goes without saying that it doesn’t put forward the more ambitious goals that would be needed to truly make Colorado a leader in addressing global climate change.”

Cross says municipalities like Fort Collins and Boulder are already moving far ahead of the state regarding curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but he says, the state needs to step up to the plate to do more “There are a lot of things that are beyond city control, such as emissions from oil and gas wells, such as emissions from agriculture, so we really need the state to step up and play an important role in meeting the kinds of goals that are actually going to address the problem of global climate change.”