On Friday, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission made a preliminary decision to make mandatory the retirement of 13 coal-fired power plants in Colorado and to accelerate the retirement of three of these. Assuming the commission makes this preliminary decision final in December, all of these dirty coal plants will be retired by 2028, and the commission agreed to circle back next year to consider accelerating two other coal retirements.

Days later, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission adopted a sweeping set of rules that end routine flaring and venting, establish strong minimum buffers separating drilling from homes and schools, offer better protection for wildlife, and other measures. They were following the state legislature’s direction to reshape their mission from “fostering” oil and gas drilling to protecting Colorado communities and the environment from the impacts of drilling.

These updated rules are the result of bold and forward-looking action by the legislature and Gov. Polis. They also reflect our deepening understanding of just how serious a threat climate change is already and how much worse it is likely to get unless we dramatically reduce carbon pollution. And they reflect an understanding that our long-term economic vitality is closely intertwined with the transition to a clean-energy economy, providing reliable and inexpensive electricity, creating jobs, and reducing harmful pollution. In fact, by quickly retiring the remaining coal plants, not only are we dramatically reducing Colorado’s carbon footprint but the air we breathe all over the state will also be cleaner, safer and healthier.

These rules are also the result of heavy involvement by local governments and elected officials, including more than a dozen local elected leaders from communities across Colorado testifying in each of these proceedings. The reason so many local governments and local elected representatives are speaking up, including a growing number from purple communities like mine, is simple. Even though climate change sometimes gets caught up in partisan politics, the impacts of climate change aren’t partisan. They are real and affect everyone, costing families and businesses money, harming people’s health, putting first responders at risk, draining local government (i.e., taxpayers) budgets, and undermining our quality of life. More and more communities, whether red-leaning, blue-leaning, or firmly in the middle are stepping up because climate change is threatening their own economic future and the future of Colorado.

In my own community of Westminster, the results already include disrupted water supplies, consecutive high heat days impacting our electrical grid and residents’ pocketbooks, and the health and economic harm from months of forest fire smoke this summer and fall. And all of this while our residents and businesses were already suffering the impacts of a pandemic and financial crisis.

The decisions over the past few days by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Air Quality Control Commission represent important, significant steps forward, which is why elected officials from communities as politically diverse as Aurora, Adams County, Brighton, Centennial, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs, and Northglenn all testified in favor of strong climate protections. But there is still a great deal to do and we are moving too slowly. A disrupted climate is increasingly our reality in Colorado and around the globe.

The governor and the legislature are making a difference, but without continued bold leadership we will fall further and further behind. By replacing dirty fuels with renewables and energy efficiency, by making smart investments in modern energy technology and infrastructure, and by ensuring that every community in Colorado, regardless of income or geography, benefits from the clean energy transition, we can protect the health of our families, generate good energy sector jobs, and remain economically competitive for decades to come.

Anita Seitz is mayor pro tem of Westminster.