The Colorado Sun reports that Colorado’s oil and gas wars are still very much alive, despite years of rulemaking, lawsuits, ballot fights, legislative battles, and Gov. Jared Polis once declaring the fight over after Senate Bill 19-181. The latest twist is a proposed “right to natural gas” constitutional ballot measure from Advance Colorado, which would guarantee consumers the right to buy natural gas for cooking and heating and producers the right to sell it.
The interesting part is not simply “industry vs. environmentalists.” It is that oil and gas operators and environmental groups apparently had a fragile ceasefire after a 2024 Polis-brokered deal, and now a third-party ballot measure is threatening to blow up the arrangement like a drunk with fireworks.
When Governor Jared “Gaslight” Polis signed Senate Bill 19-181, he triumphantly claimed the oil and gas wars were over. Bullshit. We knew it then and we know it now. There is too much far-left environmental grift to be had, too much money to be raised, too much virtue to be signaled, and too much campaign fog to let Colorado energy policy rest for five whole minutes.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Advance Colorado’s Initiative 177 would put a right to natural gas in the state constitution, protecting consumers’ ability to buy gas for cooking and heating and producers’ ability to sell it. That sounds simple, which is exactly why it should make everyone check their wallet.
- Conservation Colorado responded by filing ballot measures aimed at tightening operator liability for damages and contaminated groundwater cleanup. In other words, one side tossed a match, and the other side backed a fuel truck into the room.
- CRED, the industry group, says it does not support Advance Colorado’s measure and remains committed to the 2024 agreement. When oil and gas and environmentalists are both telling a third party to stop “helping,” maybe the helper should take the hint.
- The 2024 deal was not free. The Sun reports the industry agreed to a per-barrel fee estimated to raise about $138 million a year for transportation, public lands, and capping old wells. For producing communities like Weld County, that is not a handshake. That is a very expensive peace treaty.
- Senate Bill 19-181 changed the state’s oil and gas mission toward health, safety, welfare, wildlife, and environmental protection, while triggering years of major rulemaking. So if anyone claims Colorado oil and gas is some unregulated cowboy camp, please hand them a calendar and a chair.
My Bottom Line
Natural gas matters in Colorado. It heats homes, cooks food, supports reliability, and remains part of real life, no matter how many climate activists pretend electrons arrive by poetry. At the same time, constitutional ballot-box lawmaking is a dangerous habit. Slogans make lousy statutes, and they make even worse constitutional amendments. Plus, the risk of ballot box retribution is all too real.
Polis and the environmental left promised peace after SB 181, but the war never ended. It just got moved into agencies, ballot titles, fee structures, and legal fights. That so-called peace also came with a serious price tag for oil and gas operators and the communities that produce Colorado’s energy. Weld County knows exactly what that means. We do not need lectures from people who enjoy the revenue but sneer at the rigs.
The Constitution-first answer is restraint. Protect local control. Respect property rights. Keep energy affordable and reliable. Do not let activists regulate Colorado into scarcity, and do not let political committees turn the constitution into a document the size of a New York phone book (remember those?). Colorado needs practical energy policy (broad consumer choice, not mandates), not another round of ballot-measure trench warfare where everyone raises money, everyone claims virtue, and working families get stuck paying the bill.
Source: The Colorado Sun
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