We all need clean water, clean air and healthy environments to live and thrive. That’s why it’s just and right that our environmental rights are given the highest constitutional protection that would come by adding the Colorado Green Amendment to Article II, Bill of Rights in our Colorado Constitution.
The people of Colorado provide nearly half the state’s income through taxes, and we deserve more consideration from our representatives than corporations receive in land management decisions. Over a decade of oil and gas industry drilling and fracking has left Colorado more polluted than ever before, and the corporations responsible leave the mess for the taxpayers to clean up – while the profits those activities generate go out of state.
And now we’re being asked to accept renewed uranium mining on the Western Slope. According to the Anfield corporate website, the company wants to restart uranium mining at Slick Rock in Disappointment Valley in 2026 and has already completed exploratory drilling on Bureau of Land Management land in the area. This move by Anfield comes despite there being a tailings cell in the valley left over from post-World War II uranium mining that contains more than 1.1 million tons of contaminated radioactive materials.
People live in the valley. Ranchers graze cattle on that land. The land is home to the Spring Creek Herd Management Area and the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area. The Dolores River flows through that landscape, inviting rafters when there’s sufficient water. The radioactive particles emanating from the tailing piles would carry for miles to pollute the air and water far from the valley, and it would mix into the soils where they’re taken up by plants, animals and people.
Should we accept radioactive air, land, and water, toxic mine tailings, and increased cancer risks for the sake of corporate profits?
Across Colorado, communities are drinking polluted water, breathing unhealthy air and being impacted by climate change-related fires and droughts. Federal environmental standards and policies are being weakened in favor of corporate profits. That’s why we need to strengthen our state standards. Currently, we only have regulations, not actual rights. Corporations pollute and may or may not get fined.
The Colorado Green Amendment would guarantee a state constitutional right to clean air, water and healthy lands. Any new corporate project would have to prove that it would not harm our air, water or land, and it would be our state representative’s responsibility to protect the environment for the people. People opposing uranium, oil and gas projects can comment to their local county commissioners and state regulatory agencies, and they can rely on the Colorado Constitution to back them up.
The power to protect public lands should belong to the people, and a constitutional right offers the strongest protection.
Gov. Jared Polis recognized Colorado Clean Energy Week last month. Let’s make Colorado a clean energy state by passing a Colorado Green Amendment, so we can protect our beloved public lands from more environmental degradation. Fifteen other states – including New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and Nevada – have proposed a similar Green Amendment to their state constitutions. Pennsylvania, Montana and New York are actively using and benefiting from Green Amendments. It’s time for Colorado to do the same.
Our state representatives should care more about the people who elect them than the corporations that pollute and leave us with the mess. Please join us in protecting public lands for today and future generations by contacting your state representatives and urging them to pass a Colorado Green Amendment.
Visit forthegenerations.org/active-states/colorado to learn more and sign our petition today.
Jennifer Jane Singer is a volunteer leader of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness 4Corners Broadband. Visit greatoldbroads.org/chapters/colorado-four-corners-broads for information.
