Today, Colorado Conservation Voters announced our first round of endorsements for the 2010 General Election.  You will see that there are both established environmental champions like Senator Gail Schwartz who sponsored critical bills in her first term and promising newcomers like Jeanne Nicholson who is campaigning for the seat of outgoing champion Senator Dan Gibbs.  In all, sixteen endorsements were announced today.

Colorado has been able to address our economic and environmental challenges in the last few years because of conservation majorities in the house and the senate.  With the tragedy in the Gulf unfolding not only day by day, but month by month at this point, it is clearer than ever that it is essential to elect pro-conservation officials in Colorado to protect our air, land and water.  The alternative is just unacceptable.

We are excited about our endorsed conservation candidates.  They represent rural and urban communities; they include a nurse, a teacher and a soldier.  Our candidates represent the diverse reasons we all love Colorado and share the value Coloradans have for our environment.

Over the past few years, Coloradans elected a pro-conservation majority because we know that we can both protect the environment and grow the economy.  This bi-partisan majority has passed legislation making Colorado a national leader in environmental issues and spurred rapid growth in the new energy economy.

But these candidates face tough battles to make it to the Capitol.  Already, the environment has begun to emerge as a major issue.  From candidates who want to completely throw out the state’s new oil & gas rules that protect us from tragedies like the BP spill (despite Colorado’s own challenges with spills) to climate change deniers who want to keep embracing technology from the 1800’s, our shared conservation values are under attack.

Of course, we aren’t surprised by these attacks.  People who are heavily tied to out-dated and polluting industries want to turn back the clock in Colorado before other moderate states across the nation follow our lead.  As the saying goes, success breeds success and that makes Colorado a nightmare for those rooted in yesterday’s way of doing business.

So we must continue to strive to secure a pro-conservation majority in Colorado’s legislature.  We have come too far to secure a clean energy future for the next generations of Coloradans to be sent into reverse now.