By Angela Simental
As the 2024 Colorado legislative session comes to a close, Conservation Colorado celebrates key environmental legislation that will reduce air pollution from oil and gas, address the connected crises of climate change and housing affordability, protect our wetlands and streams and secure funding for one of the largest investments in transit and land conservation in a decade.
“This session delivered on what Coloradans expect – cleaner air and water, healthier communities and climate protections. And threats from the well-funded oil and gas industry to roll back our progress were neutralized,” said Kelly Nordini, Conservation Colorado’s CEO.
Conservation Colorado and key allies and partners from across the state were able to neutralize more than a dozen ballot measures from the oil and gas industry that would have rolled back a decade of climate progress. Additionally, the group secured strategies to reduce air pollution and enhance protections for disproportionately impacted communities, who bear the brunt of pollution impacts.
This year’s key accomplishments included:
Climate Change and Air Quality
Conservation Colorado worked with a diverse coalition of partners on legislation that will reduce the ozone and air pollution from oil and gas production (SB24-229), and worked to secure significant community protections for new technologies like carbon capture and storage (HB24-1379). These bills provide clear and necessary protections for Colorado’s communities of color and low-income communities, which are disproportionately impacted by climate change and oil and gas pollution.
Transportation and Housing
Conservation Colorado tackled the biggest source of climate pollution – transportation – and the housing crisis through landmark policies that will support transit ridership, combat sprawl, promote housing affordability and reduce air pollution (HB24-1313, HB24-1007, HB24-1152, HB24-1304, SB24-174).
We also supported a historic bill (SB24-230) that directs over $100 million annually to transit across the state. This unprecedented funding increase raises Colorado from the 44th to the 22nd state in the U.S. in terms of state transit funding.
Environmental Justice
Colorado’s communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change. Conservation Colorado advocated for legislation that expanded environmental justice programs (HB24-1338) and prioritized abandoned oil and gas well clean-up to help secure clean air and a healthy environment (SB24-229). These bills will help advance environmental justice in Colorado, reducing the impacts of pollution.
Water and Public Lands
Colorado became the first state in the nation to restore clean water protections for many of Colorado’s wetlands and streams that Trump’s Supreme Court gutted last year (HB24-1379). Wetlands and streams are key for supporting Colorado’s drinking water quality, wildlife habitats and local economies. We also supported bills to reduce toxic chemicals, known as PFAS, in drinking water (SB24-081) and protected rivers from dangerously low flows by allowing water to be released from reservoirs into rivers throughout the state to protect wildlife and recreation (SB24-197).
Conservation Colorado also played a crucial role in passing legislation that made one of the largest investments in Colorado Parks & Wildlife in over a decade, allowing the agency to protect wildlife habitat from oil and gas pollution (SB24-230).
Angela Simental is Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Comservation Colorado.