Colorado lawmakers say they are launching a last-minute legislative bid on Friday to counter a proposed ballot measure aiming to give consumers in the state a constitutional “right to natural gas.”
The proposed amendment, known as Initiative 177, is backed by Advance Colorado, a conservative advocacy group that doesn’t disclose its donors. Its appearance has triggered fears of a return to the state’s oil-and-gas ballot wars, which have simmered but never fully reignited since voters rejected a citizen-led initiative to limit fracking in 2018.
There’s also a chance the initiative could blow up a deal struck between the oil and gas industry, environmentalists and state lawmakers in 2024.
The agreement tightened air quality regulations and greenlit a new oil and gas production fee, which is expected to generate $80 million of new funding for transportation and conservation projects during the current fiscal year, according to Gov. Jared Polis’ office. In exchange, all parties agreed not to back any major policy impacting the oil and gas industry through the 2027 legislative session and ballot cycle, according to a fact sheet obtained by CPR News.
It’s unclear how Initiative 177 could impact state climate policies or local building regulations. If passed, distributors would have a constitutional right to sell natural gas, and consumers would have the same legal backing to purchase the fuel for cooking and heating. That could interfere with state and local efforts to cut natural gas usage to meet state climate targets.
Advance Colorado is still circulating petitions for the initiative ahead of a June 25 deadline. To make the ballot, the group must submit valid signatures representing 2% of all registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 state senate districts. Constitutional ballot initiatives must receive 55% of the statewide vote to pass.
In a press briefing on Friday, Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, said the new bill, which had not yet been introduced as of Friday afternoon, would ensure the amendment doesn’t threaten public safety or local air quality. The bill must clear the legislature before the current session ends next Wednesday.
“We’re talking about an explosive material,” McCluskie said. “If everybody has a right to natural gas, does that mean people can just walk around with it in a container on the street?”
Advance Colorado isn’t concerned
Michael Fields, the executive director of Advance Colorado, said the proposed ballot measure is meant to protect consumers against rising energy costs. In a recent report, his organization argued that statewide energy policies — such as Colorado’s climate goals and its plan to force natural gas utilities to cut emissions — have made it harder for consumers to access a reliable, affordable energy source.
Fields isn’t worried about the new legislative effort to fight the measure. That’s because lawmakers enact state statutes, not higher-level constitutional amendments.
“Our measure is going into the Colorado constitution,” Fields said. “The constitution obviously supersedes any statute.”
Advance Colorado has already spent at least $500,000 to collect signatures for the initiative, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The group wasn’t a part of the 2024 truce negotiated by Gov. Polis. The fact sheet outlining the agreement notes that the parties involved included Chevron, Civitas and Occidental Petroleum, three of the state’s biggest oil and gas producers. Environmental groups involved included Conservation Colorado, Western Resource Advocates, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, GreenLatinos, EarthJustice and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.
Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, acknowledged that Advance Colorado wasn’t part of the agreement. At the same time, she said the group should recognize that everyone involved wants to give existing oil and gas regulations a chance to take full effect, including the state’s leading fossil fuel producers.
“They’re not just disregarding the legislature,” Bacon said. “They’re disregarding the marketplace and those who engage in it.”
By drafting a bill so late in the session, lawmakers said they’re trying to uphold current rules related to natural gas, even with the potential for a new constitutional right to the energy source.
“We want to be clear that a right doesn’t mean that the other laws don’t exist,” Bacon said.
This is not the first time during this legislative session that state lawmakers have tried to thwart a proposed ballot initiative.
Initiative 175 would enshrine road funding in the state constitution, giving it legal protections from funding cuts that only apply to one other public service: K-12 education. The effort is being led by the Colorado Contractors Association, which said this week it has collected most of the signatures needed ahead of a May 27 deadline.
Lawmakers worry that if Initiative 175 passes, it could put the state’s budget in an even more precarious position. This year, lawmakers slashed spending on healthcare, childcare, affordable housing, state worker pay and higher education to remedy a $1.5 billion budget shortfall.
They’re proposing House Bill 1430, which would offset the spending required by Initiative 175 if it passes by temporarily cutting Colorado’s main funding source for roads, the state gas tax, as well as other transportation fees. That would effectively limit how much money the state has to spend on roads, sparing other programs from funding cuts.
Conservation Colorado also isn’t backing down
In response to Advance Colorado’s ballot initiative effort, Conservation Colorado, an influential environmental group, submitted its own set of four ballot measures in March.
Three of the proposed measures make it easier to sue oil and gas companies for environmental damages. Another would make it illegal for natural gas utilities to charge ratepayers for costs related to extending or decommissioning natural gas pipelines.
Those initiatives are currently facing legal review before the Colorado Supreme Court. Still, Kelly Nordini, the executive director of Conservation Colorado, said her group won’t drop its ballot push unless Advance Colorado does the same.
“These are purely defensive,” Nordini said. “We’re using all the tools in the toolbox.”
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.