HB-1341 is defeating the doubters. And the Edwardses are beating the haters. But the planet is still struggling in a tight contest with carbon dioxide.
It also means a whole lot of whining from entrenched oil and gas interests and their friends in the legislature.
On Tuesday, a group of legislators led by Yuma Republican Cory Gardner asked Ritter to slow down energy legislation including HB-1341, which would overhaul the oil and gas panel. (Read about it in the Rocky or the Post.)
It begs the question, just how slowly would they like things to move? Climate change has been an issue for years. Decades, even. The effects are being felt now. We are lucky that Colorado still has the opportunity to seize a leadership position in the new - and essential - green economy.
Fortunately, the governor seems to understand this. And he isn't inclined to cave on one of the central planks of the Colorado Promise. A statement his office released Tuesday night reads, in part:
"My administration has made every effort to listen to the concerns of the energy and resource-development industry. We understand how important this industry is to our economy and the value it brings to our state. Our intent is to balance the extraction of resources with the concerns the people of this state have expressed surrounding impacts to our water, air and land. Over the past five years, members of the public have lodged more than 1,500 complaints with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conversation Commission regarding those impacts.
"By end of this year, the state will likely grant more than 6,000 new drilling permits, a doubling from just a few years ago. We will have received more than 33,000 permit applications. Colorado is in the midst of one of the largest energy-development cycles in decades, probably ever, and we must do all we can to protect the public's health and our environment.
"Harris Sherman, the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, and other members of my administration have spent more than 30 hours in stakeholder meetings with the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the Colorado Petroleum Association and others interested parties regarding HB1341. We have spent twice that amount of time on the phone gathering input from and listening to stakeholders."
Translation: "The oil and gas industry has been heard. And will be heard. And now you're wasting time."
The same could be said in our nation's capital, where for years oil and gas interests have blocked attempts to slow global climate change. Finally, the voices of science, progress, passion and optimism are being heard. One can only hope they are not too late.
By conserving energy and purchasing carbon offsets, the Edwards campaign will offset the carbon emitted by Edwards and his staff's campaign travel, and the energy used in his campaign headquarters and field offices.
James Dobson thinks that global warming is a distraction from "'the great moral issues of our time,' such as abortion and same-sex marriage." I think global warming is the great moral issue of our time. Consider:
• Deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years -- to 300,000 people a year. • More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050
There is a point at which rational argument becomes impossible. Perhaps we have reached it.
The Bush administration admitted that polar bears were endangered by global warming and the loss of sea ice. And then prohibited its scientists from discussing polar bears, global warming and the loss of sea ice. Huh? Critterthink explains.
Colorado's average temperature could heat up by 7 or 8 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, according to a U.N. climate change report released in part last week... "Areas that are already wet get wetter; areas that are already dry get drier," [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expert Tom] Delworth said.
From a press release regarding the report I blogged this morning:
"Climate change will have a devastating impact on Colorado and the West," said Rep. DeGette. "Fire danger will increase precipitously. Reduced snow pack will hurt our economy which is so dependent on tourism, and our reservoirs will empty out. Water is already a precious commodity in our arid climate; we can't afford to take any more chances."
The global warming report I wrote about on January 20th has been released. Read about it in the Post and on MSNBC, which reports:
Scientists from 113 countries issued a landmark report Friday saying they have little doubt that recent global warming has been caused by man, and predicting that hotter temperatures and rises in sea level will "continue for centuries" no matter how much humans control their carbon emissions.
The scientists warned against the perils of defeatism:
"It is critical that we look at this report... as a moment where the focus of attention will shift from whether climate change is linked to human activity, whether the science is sufficient, to what on earth are we going to do about it..." [Ed. - Link added]
In what I'm sure is totally unrelated news, Exxon Mobil made $4.5 million an hour last year.
