The State Legislature ended its 2011 session in May 2011. It was a wild four-month ride that saw massive attacks on Colorado’s environment and equally profound defensive actions to protect past policies and legislation.  The session was marked by an intense effort by anti-environmental forces to roll back past environmental gains especially in the area of clean energy and climate change legislation. In the end, Coloradans demanded that their legislators protect clean air, clean water, and clean energy.

With an anti-environmental majority, the State House of Representatives repeatedly passed bills that rolled back past environmental gains. While environmental leaders in the State House worked hard, they were outgunned. Fortunately, pro-environment forces in the State Senate, led by State Senator Bob Bacon and State Senate President Brandon Shaffer worked especially hard and were instrumental in the defeat of every anti-environmental bill. Colorado owes a lot to these two Senators as well as to other pro-environment members in the State House and State Senate who toiled to keep Colorado’s hope for clean energy alive.

 

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