Colorado Senate Republicans are forming a select legislative committee to discuss energy and environmental issues with some depth to educate the public and fellow legislators.

“It’s a big deal, because it’s some place to gather that information,” said Sen. Ray Scott, a Republican from Grand Junction, who leads the panel. “If you think about it, there’ s not a lot of people in that building who really understand the energy issues. They’re not in the energy industry. We all develop an opinion based on these different groups that come screaming to the Capitol saying the sky is falling. But let’s spend some time looking at the data, looking at the facts.”

Scott first spoke of the committee at an American Petroleum Industry lunch in Denver Tuesday.

Senate President-designee Kevin Grantham, a Republican from Cañon City, asked for the panel, which could hold public discussions on such issues as fracking, public lands, relations with the Trump administration or the governor’s clean-air proposals.

Scott is joined on the committee by Sens. John Cooke of Weld County and Kevin Priola of Adams County, the neighboring counties on the forefront of Colorado’s controversy on regulating oil and gas production near communities.

When Senate Democrats elected leaders after the election this month, they named Matt Jones of Louisville as their point man on issues related to renewable energy, conservation and climate change.

Senate Democratic leader Lucia Guzman of Denver said Tuesday she needs to hear more about the Republican committee’s work before supporting or condemning it. The Democrats’ position is clear, she said.

“One of our main agenda items for the coming year is movement toward the new economy with renewable energy, working on climate change and all that,” Guzman said. “I’m not sure what the Republicans have in mind when they’re setting up this committee.”

She said more partisan hearings won’t be productive. If Republicans pass legislation in the Senate, where they have a majority, they still must broker a compromise with the Democratic majority in the House.

“We know what the majority of people in Colorado want,” Guzman said. “They want to keep their public lands, they want to have clean air and most people in Colorado support action toward diminishing climate change.”

If the committee recommends legislation, it would be steered through normal channels, first to the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling.

“There’s plenty of work to keep both committees extremely busy given the intense public interest these issues generate and the changing regulatory landscape we’re likely to see in the future,” Grantham said in a statement.

“The select committee will augment and enhance our ability to look at these issues in a broader way, and at greater depth. It’s also a reflection of the primary importance Senate Republicans place on these issues, which hold the key to Colorado’s economic and environmental well-being.”

Cooke said it is important to support Colorado’s energy industry, one of the state’s to economic drivers, while also protecting “natural places that make Colorado special.”

“Reliable and affordable energy are too important to Colorado’s energy consumers and business climate to not keep every option on the table, including coal, oil and gas, renewables and maybe even nuclear,” he said. “It’s time we put Colorado energy consumers first again, by adopting energy policies guided by practical reality, not extreme ideology.”