Wildfires make work to reduce Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions even more crucial, Gov. Polis says

Even as massive wildfires swept across northern Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday urged  state air regulators to “never take our eye from the ball of the climate crisis.”

The fires that have engulfed the state for months only underscore the need to meet the state’s  goal of reducing  greenhouse gas emissions, which have been linked to climate change and  an increased fire season in the West.

“We’ve had our two largest fires in the history of Colorado this year and the fourth largest as well,” Polis said in an address to the Air Quality Control Commission. “This only emphasizes the importance of this work, your work.”

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The AQCC was given the task, in legislation passed in 2019, of issuing rules and plans to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 26% in 2025, 50% in 2030 and 50% by 2050.

But some environmental groups and former air commission members have criticized the governor and the commission for not pressing for deadlines on rulemakings and broader greenhouse gas rules, such as a cap on total emissions from industry and utilities.

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Read more from Mark Jaffe, The Colorado Sun.

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