September 15, 2011 07:13 PM UTC

Scott Tipton's Anti-Environmental Record

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• by: ClubTwitty

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Nine months into his first term in federal office, Colorado’s Third District representative has already staked out turf among DC’s most anti-environmental legislators.  Troy Hooper reports in RealAspen:

Colorado Conservation Voters issued a report Monday highlighting the poor environmental record of Tipton and his fellow Republican congressmen Cory Gardner and Doug Lamborn, who collectively have made 370 votes against the environment this year while largely supporting a pro-polluter agenda.

“Congressmen Gardner, Lamborn and Tipton have sided with Big Oil and dirty energy interests at every opportunity during the 112th Congress, voting to protect their unnecessary subsidies while working to block the EPA’s ability to hold these corporate polluters accountable,” said Colorado Conservation Voters Executive Director Pete Maysmith.

…The trio of environmental troublemakers voted 18 times this year to protect tax breaks for big oil, 57 times against efforts to combat climate change, 134 times against programs and funding to keep water and air clean, 98 times to defund or weaken the EPA and 64 times against renewable energy initiatives.

And that’s not even counting Tipton’s co-sponsorship of HR 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act – a bill so far-reaching it’s testing the tempers of folks who lean to the left and to the right

Following verbatim the Republican talking points, Mr. Tipton incessantly demands that solving all our economic woes is as easy as ditching regulations, easing restrictions and opening up more lands to drilling and mining.  Apparently he thinks that the environment will just take care of itself.  

The  Western Slope elected a Republican in 2010, and with that it is understood come different political and policy priorities.  But Mr. Tipton is doing a grave disservice to many in his District who want to ensure that energy development is balanced with public health, a clean environment, undeveloped backcountry and secure habitat on our public lands.  

So far Mr. Tipton has failed to demonstrate that he appreciates that balance.

For an indication on the type of dialogue Mr. Tipton wants to encourage in finding solutions to real issues of substantive concern to many of his constituents, one need only consider the hearing titles for his dog-and-pony shows, the second of which will convene next week in Grand Junction, according to the Daily Sentinel (paywall):

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., plans to host another hearing in Grand Junction next week about what federal regulations may be getting in the way of energy development in the nation.

…He’s titled next week’s session, “Are Excessive Energy Regulations and Policies Limiting Energy Independence, Killing Jobs and Increasing Prices for Consumers?”

Tipton the One Trick Pony

Mr. Tipton’s taxfunded roadshow will likely not be too entertaining.  His pony only knows one trick. On Grand Junction’s bottom ranking in metropolitan areas’ economic recovery (pdf), Tipton again hit this theme:

Grand Junction has been hit especially hard by policies that have stamped out development of our natural resources, and suffocated economic growth,” Tipton said.  “There are many things that can be done right now to create thousands of badly needed jobs in Grand Junction and in the Third Congressional District, including adopting an all of the above approach to energy development.

When facebooking the news of the increase in US poverty rate, Mr. Tipton’s comment was:

It is devistating [sic] that 46.2 million Americans, including 22 percent of American children, are living in poverty. It’s time we get government out of the way and let the Free Enterprise System function, so that Americans can get back to work and we can reverse this trend. We must act now.

Like much of America, the Western Slope is hurting, some areas more than others.  No one doubts that oil and gas drilling provides jobs–its called a boom for a reason–just as few who pay attention can honestly admit that an over-reliance on any particular sector, especially a highly volatile one like energy commodities, doesn’t pose great threat to long-term economic health.  It’s called a bust for a reason too.  

As of this writing, natural gas is trading for just over $4.00 an mbtu.  The market is glutted and massive shale plays have made Piceance gas less attractive (but not Niobrara oil, another fatal flaw in the congressman’s reasoning).  It is, in fact, the very Free Market that Mr. Tipton pledges allegiance to, at work.

Meanwhile, there are other economies at work on the Western Slope.  And locations that had more diversity in theirs have fared better over this last rough patch. Something Mr. Tipton’s opponent realizes, according to an article in the Durango Herald.

“Here in the Western Slope, we all know that our land, our environment, our economy and our people are all tied together, and here in Durango and in La Plata County, we know that recreation, we know that tourism, we know that the folks who come and raft, the folks who come and ski are important, and we have to have balance in our land use and our natural environment. And we have a congressman today who is a sponsor of a piece of legislation that would do away with any future roadless or wilderness areas,” Pace said, referring to House Resolution 1581.

Pace repeatedly criticized Tipton for a lack of balanced support, at one point saying Tipton is “hell bent on representing the narrow 5 percent of the extreme tea party fringe.”

Legislation such as HR 1581 would “almost definitely” lead to dirty rivers and damage water quality by taking away public protection, Pace later said in an interview.

…Ensuring clean, pristine rivers and wilderness areas ultimately will bring tourism to an area by encouraging recreation, Pace said,

HR 1581, the “Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act” would essentially open up the vast majority of our National Forest roadless areas and BLM’s wilderness study areas to the full range of industrial and motorized activity, based on area management plans.  It is wildly unpopular among environmentalists, many local governments, hunters, anglers, outdoor businesses, and most people with good sense.  

In Colorado the legislation would derail the six-plus year process to craft a roadless rule for the state.  (One, ironically, that currently includes–in its draft form–unprecedented giveaways to the coal industry in the North Fork).  

On Thursday, a coalition of eight conservation and sportsmen’s groups sent a letter to Colorado’s congressional delegation and Gov. John Hickenlooper urging them to reject California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s H.R. 1581, entitled the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act.

The bill would release huge swaths of federal lands across the country from roadless protection and consideration for wilderness status. It would essentially eliminate the 2001 Clinton roadless rule, which has been in legal limbo for a decade, and also undo the Colorado Roadless Rule – a state-specific set of regulations set in motion by former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens in 2005 but still not finalized.

“We want to ensure that Colorado’s roadless areas are managed at a level that is as protective as the 2001 rule,” said Nick Payne, Colorado field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in Denver. “H.R.1581 would undermine that ability by effectively eliminating the 2001 rule and the potential for an improved Colorado rule.”

Protecting Colorado’s environment is good business.  Just as safeguarding public health–and clean air and water–should be a top concern of our elected officials.  Heavy on the rhetoric, Mr. Tipton generally glosses over the details about specifically which public lands, health and environmental protections have driven the price of natgas to a near record low ‘stamped out development of our natural resources’?

This might prove a challenging puzzle for Mr. Tipton to solve, however, as drilling across much of the nation (and even parts of Colorado) is actually up.  Meanwhile our congressman’s crusade to gut regulations might risk the very type of balance that keeps our economy more resilient.

Aspen Skiing Co.’s top environmental guru is heading to Capitol Hill today with three winter sports athletes in an attempt to convince members of Congress to stop climate change.

Auden Schendler, SkiCo’s vice president of sustainability, will be accompanied by Olympian snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, pro skier Chris Davenport and pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones.

…”The primary message to Congress is do not gut the EPA on the regulation of carbon,” Schendler said. He added that the Environmental Protect Agency is under attack by the GOP, some members of which would like to eliminate the agency.

“They think regulation of any kind kills business,” Schendler said. “Our position is that climate change kills it more.”

…The winter sports industry is a $66 billion-a-year industry, and therefore is influential.

Mr. Tipton has not been in Congress long.  But his anti-environmental record is already growing tired.  Apparently oblivious to the growing concerns around clean air and water, or the tremendous support for protecting our best backcountry, or the businesses across his District that rely on these values to thrive, the Congressman ignores what is obvious to a large number of his constituents.  

In a Denver Post article, Schlender criticizes Tipton directly, as an active member in the most anti-environmental Congress ever, noting that “we think wilderness and public-land preservation is good for business.”

But I guess Mr. Tipton didn’t see that one on his talking points sheet.