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Last month, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would establish protections for public lands in both Colorado and Arizona. One bill would ban new uranium mining next to the Grand Canyon in Arizona and another would create wilderness areas in Colorado. With Senate races in both states in 2020, campaigns are being pressured to take positions on these public lands protections, which can mean breaking with party lines.
However, siding with public lands and conservation may prove critical in the coming election to win over Western voters. According to the Center for Western Priorities' Winning the West poll, 59 percent of Arizona voters oppose removing restrictions on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. And in Colorado, 65 percent of voters think we need to protect new deserving lands.
An unfair share for taxpayers in Colorado
A new report from Taxpayers for Common Sense found that Colorado taxpayers lost out on more than half a billion dollars in oil and gas revenue during the last decade due to low federal oil and gas royalty rates. If federal onshore royalty rates (12.5%) matched offshore rates (18.75%), the state would have collected more than $600 million.
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As suspected, when the governor and legislative leaders say that state environmental regulation is better, what they’re really saying is state regulation is less. In this case, less means more pits full of stinky, greasy wastewater in places God never intended."
