Pueblo’s denizens long have voted blue, but green? The Democratic Party’s environmental agenda always had seemed like more of a Boulder kind of thing; not much traction in a blue-collar community whose historic steel plant earned it the moniker “Steel City.”

Times are a changin’. Last February, the Pueblo City Council adopted a resolution committing the city to 100 percent renewable energy reliance by 2035. Not your steelworker granddad’s Pueblo anymore.

Some of the change is the result of economic evolution. Where coal-burning Colorado Fuel & Iron (today’s Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel) once dominated the local economy – and skyline – a Vestas plant now gives it a run for the money making towers for wind turbines.

But as an enlightening report by the Pueblo Chieftain points out, it isn’t just the green economy that is propelling the city toward renewable energy; green activism is playing a key role, too. The Chieftain’s Zach Hillstrom gives readers an overview of how environmental groups that once only were associated with Colorado’s more Yuppie-scale climbs are coalescing as a force to be reckoned with in Pueblo:

… before Pueblo City Council’s February 2017 resolution committing the city to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2035, dedicated environmental and sustainable-energy advocates already were working to position Pueblo for a green future.

Two local advocacy groups in particular have spearheaded a variety of initiatives to move the city past its reliance on energy produced from burning fossil fuels, as Pueblo’s Energy Future and the Sangre de Cristo Group of the national Sierra Club have led the charge in informing the public about the benefits of renewable energy in order to change long-standing practices and policies.

Hillstrom offers insights into the players as well as their strategies and tactics:

Rebecca Vigil, community coordinator for PEF who has worked with the organization for the past 18 months, said a big part of promoting PEF’s three-legged stool is informing the public about energy issues in Pueblo and rallying them to attend public forums to make their voices heard.

“It’s all about educating people,” she said. “I don’t know if a lot of people know what’s going on with energy issues, in Pueblo specifically. I study this stuff all week, every week, and it’s still kind of convoluted, so it’s nice being able to give people the bullet points on what’s happening and what they can do.

“Certainly, one of the biggest steps is to come to a town hall or a City Council meeting so they can understand what’s going on and to show that they’re wanting to be an active participant in the community.”

A must-read for anyone tracking how Pueblo, long a player in Democratic Party politics, is poised to become a mover and shaker in environmental politics. as well. Here’s the link again.