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The state of Colorado has adopted the same greenhouse gas reduction targets to combat climate change as those the United States government agreed to as part of the internationally-backed Paris climate agreement signed in 2015. This includes an ambitious goal of cutting 50 percent of carbon dioxide emissions across Colorado's economy by 2050 from a baseline set in 2005. However, President-elect Donald Trump's vows to once again withdraw the United States from the Paris climate pact and to “drill baby, drill” on federal lands could make Colorado's progress toward reaching those targets more difficult.
There are over 2 million acres of issued but unused federal oil and gas leases in Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management is in the process of updating resource management plans (RMPs) that will determine future leasing across millions more acres in Colorado. Given that those plans reflect the priorities of the Biden administration, it's possible the Trump administration would want to revise them, a long process that is certain to face legal challenges.
In addition, Project 2025, the policy checklist put together by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, includes a goal to “abandon withdrawals of lands from leasing in the Thompson Divide of the White River National Forest, Colorado.” In April, the Biden administration withdrew about 221,000 acres from drilling and mining in the Thompson Divide for 20 years after a decades-long battle by environmentalists and landowners to block oil and gas operations in the area.
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The fight to protect our planet is literally a fight for humanity.”
