Throughout this election year, there has been a lot of misinformation disseminated about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its impact on the economy here in the United States. While some have claimed – erroneously – that it will ship jobs overseas and allow foreign companies to gain a competitive advantage, the fact is that it will bring benefits to many industries in Colorado – a fact opponents simply fail to recognize. If Congress is able to come together and pass the TPP, the result could be an agricultural and energy boom that could fuel Colorado’s economy to prosperity.

The TPP works for Colorado because it will allow our farmers and ranchers to sell more produce to emerging Asian markets, while also potentially providing increased revenue for our energy industry here in the state, by encouraging and expanding trade with the 11 TPP-partner nations.

This historic trade deal is designed to remove international taxes and regulations that handicap our economic relationships with these countries, and will foster more trade and economic growth across the state and country. It will reduce or remove tariffs on Colorado’s agricultural exports, which will lead to an increase of $110 million in exports for farmers each year.

Over the past decade, the United States has become a leading producer of natural gas, with enormous reserves located right here in Colorado’s Piceance Basin. If a TPP is passed, our natural gas producers will have the ability and incentive to create the infrastructure necessary to become the primary supplier of natural gas to Japan and other TPP economies.

We need our representatives to ignore all of the incorrect chatter about the TPP and get behind this once in a lifetime agreement that will further expand our No. 1 and No. 2 industries in Colorado.