DENVER—Businesses and environmentalists are marking their positions on climate change as the Legislature prepares for an anticipated flurry of bills on the issue.
The Colorado Climate Action Network, a coalition of environmental groups, is suggesting a five-pronged plan to cut greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020.
Business groups, meanwhile, are urging legislators to involve them to avoid approaches that could increase their costs and hurt their competitiveness.
Legislative leaders have said Colorado cannot afford to wait for Congress to act on climate change and expect about two dozen bills dealing with it to be introduced when the new session starts in January.
Environmentalists say while Colorado is a leader in renewable energy, the state doesn’t have specific policies targeting carbon dioxide, one of the pollutants blamed for global warming.
“We’re already seeing some of the effects of global warming on Colorado. Look no further than the massive beetle kills turning our forests brown,” said Dave Dittloff, with the regional office of the National Wildlife Federation.
Biologists say drought and the lack of sustained freezing weather that would kill the bugs are helping drive the widespread infestation in Colorado and other parts of the West.
“The science is clear, the solutions are at hand and the public support for action is widespread,” said Dan Grossman, head of the regional office of Environmental Defense.
The coalition’s proposal for dealing with climate change includes generating at least 20 percent of electricity statewide from renewable energy by 2020; reducing pollution from vehicles by nearly 30 percent; reducing the carbon content of transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020; providing incentives to promote construction of efficient homes and commercial buildings; and researching and testing technology that captures and stores greenhouse gases.
