By Steve Kenny
Colorado’s winter season was one for the record books. In fact, the Rocky Mountain region saw 27.9 million skier visits this year, a record for the second year in a row, thanks in large part to the consistent snowpack everywhere.
The ski season began in early November with a well-above-average snowpack that has lasted well into May. It’s been the kind of consistent winter that the ski industry dreams of all year.
But it was also the kind of season that climate experts have said we’d see — a solid winter this year followed by a few warmer winters before we’ll see the next epic one. With the climate trending toward warmer and wetter winters, inconsistency and uncertainty rules.
As a member of Colorado’s vibrant and economically important winter outdoor industry, this trend frightens us. Without winter, our jobs and our businesses are in peril, along with Colorado’s $5 billion winter outdoor recreation economy, the largest in the U.S.
As an industry that’s truly on the front lines of climate change, it’s our responsibility to step up to address this issue by embracing the large-scale, systemic solutions that will have the greatest impact. Cleaning up the transportation sector, the largest source of carbon emissions in the state is one of them.
Zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) are perhaps our greatest tool to tackle transportation emissions, and the Colorado Clean Car standard which the Air Quality Control Commission will vote on adopting this October would rapidly accelerate the deployment of these pollution-free vehicles. We support the adoption of the full version of this rule, which will result in 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035 because doing so will provide the greatest benefits to Coloradans. Adoption of the strongest possible Colorado Clean Car standard will showcase Colorado’s innovation and leadership in the 21st century.
There are many good reasons that Colorado should adopt the strongest version of this rule this year. Most notably, a strong Colorado Clean Car standard will make the goal of 940,000 ZEVs on Colorado’s roads by 2030 and 2.1 million ZEVs by 2035 more achievable. It also ensures that Coloradans have access to the more affordable and higher quality ZEVs, helping us meet the ambitious and required greenhouse gas emissions targets set years ago and addressing the worsening air quality problem plaguing the Front Range.
Getting outside is more popular than ever before. In fact, 92% of all Coloradans participate in outdoor recreation each year. Getting outdoors, and enjoying our mountains, rivers and clean, crisp air is an essential part of Colorado’s culture and vibrant tourism economy, and changing the way we access the outdoors is an essential part of protecting them.
Thankfully, there is some momentum — just last month, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission adopted Advanced Clean Trucks, another landmark piece of legislation that requires manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission models. This is the first step. If we hope to achieve Colorado’s goals of a 50% reduction in statewide emissions by 2030, and a 90% cut by 2050, we need to tackle the entire transportation sector that includes trucks, but also, the 17 million tons of CO2 emitted by Colorado’s millions of light-duty vehicles. To truly tackle the impacts of climate change across our state, we can’t do one without the other.
If we’re serious about addressing climate change’s impacts on Colorado’s mountains, and our winter outdoor recreation economy, leading the transition to electric vehicles and addressing the leading source of carbon emissions will have a powerful, immediate and positive impact.
But time is not on our side. We can’t sit and wait another year to implement this new rule. Let’s get the Colorado Clean Car standard done in 2023 to protect our winter outdoor recreation economy.
Steve Kenny is the CEO or flaik. Kenny lives in Lafayette.
