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At geothermal launch in Vail, Polis talks Project 2025, reform for SCOTUS, Uinta Basin oil trains

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July 27, 2024, 9:18 am

Project 2025 envisions even more oil drilling like this on BLM land in the Uinta Basin, even though the U.S. just set an all-time oil production record (July 22, 2024, photo by David O. Williams).

VAIL, Colo. — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday, following the launch of a state-funded geothermal project here, took on the Trump-aligned Project 2025 plans for rolling back renewables and exploiting public lands with a massive surge in fossil fuels.

“Project 2025 is worrisome for many, many reasons, but, yes, among them is doubling down on fossil fuels when we have the opportunity for the transition to low-cost, reliable renewable energy to ensure our nation’s energy security,” Polis said after speaking with Vail Mayor Travis Coggin and Bryan Hannegan, president and CEO of local power provider Holy Cross Energy.

Jared Polis
Gov. Jared Polis

“It’s important we move forward rather than backward,” Polis said of Project 2025, which envisions building housing on protected federal forest lands, rolling back climate regulations, and ramping up domestic oil and gas production, which is already at record levels. “And that means forward towards the renewable energy future, forward towards a bright future for every American, no matter who they are, their faith, or who they love, and not backwards towards more reliance on fossil fuels and pitting one American against another. So that’s really what this upcoming election is all about and why it’s so important that we elect Kamala Harris as president of the United States.”

Asked if moving forward includes reform of the radically far-right U.S. Supreme Court that former president and current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump stacked with three picks to overturn 50 years of reproductive rights and absolve presidents of legal liability, Polis said he hasn’t seen specific proposals yet. President Joe Biden, in a primetime speech on Wednesday, promised to work on SCOTUS reform in his final months in office.

But Polis was critical of the current court’s rolling back of environmental regulations meant to protect the public right to clean air and water, including a ruling on Waters of the U.S. and the Clean Water Act that forced Colorado to become one of the first states in the nation to set up its own regulatory framework for wetlands dredging permits.

“I think the Waters of the U.S. case really thrusted it entirely on states to protect our wetlands,” Polis said. “Colorado, we were the first state to set up a thoughtful way of protecting our wetlands and preserving our biodiversity, and other states are following suit. I don’t have any tea leaves on [future rulings of] the Supreme Court, but I think that it’s another reason why the president is so important, because the president appoints the Supreme Court. We know what kind of justices Donald Trump appoints. We know what kind of justices Kamala Harris would appoint, and it’s really a stark difference on so many issues including conservation issues.”

One of the cases the court is taking up in the fall is an appeal of Eagle County’s successful lawsuit that derailed the proposed Uinta Basin Railway project in Utah that would have doubled the amount of oil being transported by rail in the United States, with most of it traveling along the Colorado River and then down in Denver on its way to Gulf Coast refineries.

Asked to definitively declare his opposition to the project, Polis pointed out it’s a federal case, with the Supreme Court weighing whether the National Environmental Policy Act must consider the downstream impacts of oil transport, and that governors don’t regulate interstate rail.

“It’s a legal case that we’re following, of course,” Polis said. “We’re actively monitoring it. It would have a major impact on our state for sure, in terms of transportation. I don’t have any say over it. It’s not up to the governor. It’s a pending court case, so we’re aggressively monitoring it, and it would have profound implications across the West.”

Also on Thursday, the Polis administration issued a statement on immigration in the wake of a symbolic, politically motivated GOP House resolution critical of the Biden administration.

“The Biden-Harris administration is making significant progress towards securing our border and addressing immigration despite former President Trump’s efforts to torpedo any meaningful border security investments to protect our country,” the Polis statement read. “The American people deserve a leader who will put the country over politics, and that’s what President Biden and his team are doing now.

“As a person who is data driven, the numbers show that President Biden’s policies are working even in the face of Congressional inaction. Since taking action, unlawful crossings at the Southern border have dropped by 55%. I continue to call on Republicans in Congress to stop blocking the border security bill,” Polis added, referring to bipartisan legislation Trump scuttled.

Vail Mayor Travis Coggin, Holy Cross Energy President and CEO Bryan Hannegan and Polis went over the details of the $250,000 state grant to help fund Vail’s new geothermal system to replace carbon-intensive natural gas with heat from the earth’s crust to power one of the largest snowmelt systems in the world:

Town of Vail environmental sustainability director Kristen Bertuglia and clean energy specialist Cameron Millard provided further details of exactly how the new geothermal system will work to heat the streets at the base of Vail Mountain: https://youtu.be/_9Y9tWMwzRU

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on the Colorado Times Recorder website.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.