GoKawiilA ballot measure written by a conservative nonprofit could amend the Colorado Constitution to enshrine fossil fuel companies’ right to sell methane gas and possibly force communities that have tried to eliminate gas appliances from new construction to back away from those efforts.
Advance Colorado, which wrote the measure and led the effort to gather enough signatures to add the measure to the ballot, submitted its petition on June 25 to put Initiative 177, the “Right to Natural Gas,” to voters in November’s state election.
The broad language of the measure—only 60 words in total—makes it difficult to predict how state agencies would implement it if it passes, and many people worry the amendment would endanger Colorado’s ability to reach its climate goals.
The proposed amendment states that “producers and utilities have the right to sell natural gas to homes and businesses.” That could force changes to building codes that encourage electric heating and cooking, undoing progress toward electrification.
“Really, it’s just a cynical attempt to lock fossil fuel industry profits into the state constitution,” said Kelly Nordini, CEO of Conservation Colorado, an environmental nonprofit. “That’s bad for people’s pocketbooks, for clean air, for clean water; it has no provisions for public health or safety.”
The ballot measure faced pushback earlier this year from House Democrats and Conservation Colorado. House Democrats proposed a bill that would have preemptively placed protections for public health and safety on the right to natural gas amendment. However, House Republicans ran out the clock on the bill during the final day of the legislative session, preventing it from being introduced.
Conservation Colorado initially filed four ballot initiatives for November’s state election in response to the amendment: three seeking to hold oil and gas companies liable for harm caused by their operations, and one to stop utilities from raising rates to pay for natural gas infrastructure expansion. The organization later decided not to pursue these initiatives to focus on opposing the right to natural gas measure.