When Coloradans voted last week to reject an amendment that would have enshrined a right to natural gas in their state constitution, they also rebuffed a legal maneuver by a dark money group to keep Colorado reliant on deceptively dirty natural gas.
asserted
they → vote → gas
Amendment 82, a ballot initiative sponsored by one such group, would have codified the right of consumers to purchase natural gas and for utilities and distributors to sell it, a first-of-its-kind protection for the fossil fuel industry.
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utilities → sponsor → industry
But voters smacked it down by a margin of more than 7 points.
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voters → smack → points
The measure’s defeat was a setback for an industry that is championed by the Trump administration but increasingly at odds with state and local efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
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that → champion → consumption
Over the last few years, Colorado has committed to zeroing out net greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, invested in renewable energy, and rolled out roadmaps to slash emissions from buildings and utilities.
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Colorado → commit → buildings
Amendment 82 would have given gas companies a new legal tool to challenge those policies.
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Amendment → give → policies
At the center of the campaign was Advance Colorado, a conservative advocacy group led by Michael Fields, former director of the Koch-affiliated Americans for Prosperity.
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Colorado → lead → Prosperity
“It is a little unclear who exactly Advance Colorado is,” said Keriann Conroy, an analyst with the Energy and Policy Institute research group.
uncertain
Conroy → say → group
As a nonprofit, the group isn’t required to disclose its funders to the public—or even whether they are from Colorado.
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they → require → Colorado
“Ballot measures are really relied upon by these dark money networks because they can get signatures and then get something on the ballot immediately without ever having to disclose their main funders,” Conroy said.
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Conroy → rely → funders
Advance Colorado has claimed that natural gas is “one of the cleanest energy sources available today” and that efforts to transition away from it have saddled Coloradans with rising costs.
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efforts → claim → costs
Arguing that people should remain free to choose how they heat and cook their homes, it frames the “right to natural gas” as a matter of consumer choice.
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it → argue → choice
“Most people, when they think of a right to gas, they’re thinking about the stove or the dryer in their home,” Conroy said.
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Conroy → think → home
“But there’s also these really large industry groups that use gas—data centers being probably the most concerning for voters right now.”
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centers → ’ → voters
Fossil fuel industry groups have known for decades that natural gas is detrimental to the environment and public health.
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gas → know → environment
It is largely composed of methane, a heat-trapping pollutant 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term—scientists and policy experts say reducing methane emissions could help pull “the emergency brake” on climate change.
uncertain
reducing → compose → change
Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment cautions that gas-fueled household appliances such as stoves and fireplaces release harmful byproducts, including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and benzene (a known human carcinogen) that can harm people’s health and worsen problems such as asthma.
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that → caution → asthma
Regardless, fossil fuel executives and industry lobbyists have consistently promoted the fuel as “green.”
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executives → promote → fuel
Colorado passed a law last year requiring gas-stove manufacturers to affix labels to their products—a bit like the ones on cigarette packs—warning of the risks these appliances bring into people’s homes.
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appliances → pass → homes
Industry groups sued (though many of the companies they represent have such warnings on their websites).
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they → sue → websites
As that lawsuit plays out, the industry is testing a new strategy: gas as a constitutional right.
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industry → play → right
“We usually think of natural rights as being for people and not resources,” said Garrett Royer, political director for the Sierra Club’s Colorado chapter.
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Royer → think → chapter
Coloradans already have access to gas—which is used to heat about 70 percent of the state’s buildings and residencies.
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which → have → buildings
“This resource is already protected,” Royer went on.
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Royer → protect → ?
“It’s not something that is currently being jeopardized.”
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that → ’ → ?
But Advance Colorado claimed “natural gas in Colorado is under attack” due to the state’s pro-electrification policies.
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gas → claim → policies
“It seemed to be an attempt to lock in a fuel of the past and the profits that go with it,” said Kelly Nordini, CEO of Conservation Colorado, an environmental nonprofit that fought the measure.
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that → seem → measure
“Given that we don’t even have a right to healthy air and water in the constitution, it seems very odd to [include] one particular product.”
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it → give → product
And according to Colorado’s ballot guide, the amendment would have also limited “the ability for state or local governments to enforce existing or future regulations related to natural gas.”
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governments → accord → gas
Amendment 82 aligns with a nationwide industry effort.
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Amendment → align → effort
The American Gas Association, a lobbying and trade group, notes that 26 states have passed “fuel choice” legislation.
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states → note → legislation
Many of the laws explicitly prohibit banning gas appliances and utility hookups in new construction.
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Many → prohibit → construction
“Six of Colorado’s seven neighboring states,” the Common Sense Institute, a think tank directly funded by Advance Colorado, notes on its website, “have enacted laws limiting local governments’ ability to restrict natural-gas services.”
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Institute → neighbor → services
Meanwhile, an Oregon state senator has introduced legislation to prohibit the state from restricting natural gas, and a ballot measure “pushed by builders” was introduced to thwart Washington’s shift away from natural gas.
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measure → introduce → gas
(It passed but was overturned by the state’s Supreme Court.)
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It → pass → Court
In Colorado, recent estimates suggest renewable energy sources now account for more than half of electricity generation.
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sources → suggest → generation
“Amendment 82, if it passed, would have been an existential threat, not just to the environmental movement in Colorado, but to our energy future as a state,” said Royer, “Locking in natural gas, something that we are already moving away from, would have been a relic of the past.”
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we → pass → past
It would also, as EPI’s Conroy pointed out, have made Colorado the only state with a specific energy source codified in its constitution.
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Colorado → point → constitution
“There are pretty dangerous implications for writing a fossil fuel into your constitution at a time with unprecedented climate-exacerbated disasters,” she said.
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she → be → disasters
Despite a 2024 state-brokered “truce” to end competing ballot measures between Colorado’s main oil and gas producers (Chevron and Occidental Petroleum) and environmental groups, the Amendment 82 campaign attracted substantial industry money from both in and out of state.
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campaign → broker → state
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
