Last Thursday, a day when other Western governors, tribal leaders and local government officials were signing a multi-state partnership to develop and export natural gas in Salt Lake City, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was signing environmental bills in a solar garden in Arvada.

Until Tuesday, the governor’s office wouldn’t comment on why Polis didn’t attend or send an emissary to the Utah governor’s 2019 Energy Summit, which included the signing ceremony for the Western States and Tribal Nations collaborative.

Polis’ spokesperson and later the governor said he wasn’t invited “as far as we know,” Polis said. 

“The Colorado Energy Office is supportive of our renewable energy transition,” Polis said, when asked more specifically whether he supported natural gas development. “We completely recognize that we are also producers of fossil fuels.”

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On his position on natural gas, he replied, “We produce some and we sell some, and depending on the price of natural gas, that’s what dictates those opportunities.”

The Utah governor’s office on Tuesday deferred questions about the energy summit to Laura Nelson, the  energy advisor to Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican.

She said there was “no snubbing intended,” but that Colorado had withdrawn its support for the collaborative under Polis, a departure from the Hickenlooper administration.

“We certainly would have welcomed him here,” she said.

But, she explained, “After conversations and negotiations, it was that this initiative didn’t fit with some of Gov. Polis’ policy priorities.”

Nelson said Utah hopes to continue to partner with Colorado on other energy projects, such as a Western corridor of charging stations for electrical vehicles.

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The summit was attended by state Sen. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction, and representatives from Mesa, Garfield, Rio Blanco and Moffat counties.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who is now running for president, shared the stage with Herbert at last year’s summit.

Eric Carlson, executive director of the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association, told Colorado Politics Tuesday that Hickenlooper’s energy office had worked on the collaboration for years, but the Polis administration had been less receptive.

“I actually spoke with the Energy Director Will Toor about the initiative earlier this year to encourage his office to acknowledge this was a previous administration’s initiative, and that his support was acknowledging that effort and Colorado financial resources put into the research report that support the initiative,” Carlson said.

Polis ran for the office last year on a platform of moving the state to renewable sources of energy.

Tuesday he noted that he signed Senate Bill 181 to give local communities more say in regulation drilling operations.

Scott said natural gas is a clean-burning source of energy that Polis should support, especially exporting it to other countries that rely on other sources of energy.

“Regardless of what Polis thinks, natural gas is part of the energy mix, and it’s certainly part of the clean-energy mix,” Scott told Colorado Politics.

Scott wrote an op-ed for The Federalist website Tuesday titled, “Colorado’s Governor Unmasks Himself As An Anti-Energy Extremist.”

He said Tuesday that he too spoke with the governor’s staff about joining the natural gas collaborative.

Asked to respond, Polis called The Federalist “a fairly fridge right-wing publication.”

“The energy industry is thriving in our great state and that means wind and solar and oil and gas and hydro,” Polis said. “We are a state that, I think, has a great vision for the future of energy.”

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, said in a statement that the new coalition would seek to develop natural gas responsibly to “supply the world.”

“These resources are essential to powering a low-carbon future, and we look forward to the work of this coalition,” he stated.

The coalition is expected to support the $10 billion Jordan Cove liquified natural gas pipeline project. The stalled effort would move the Interior West’s vast supplies of natural gas to Coos Bay, Oregon, to export to the Pacific Rim countries.

He said on the campaign trail in Western Colorado last year that while he appreciates the economic boost natural gas could provide, he was concerned about the effects of additional drilling.

Polis said Tuesday that he remains neutral on the Jordan Cove project.

Facing environmental concerns, Jordan Cove awaits final approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.