Colorado faces a pressing question: How can we meet our growing energy needs while adhering to the unfair statewide emission reduction requirements?

Though the state has forced communities to reduce emissions by integrating electric vehicles, solar power and wind power into our infrastructure. These short-term solutions require a more comprehensive, long-term strategy to subsidize the forced financial and energy forfeiture. That is why I am a co-prime sponsor on a bipartisan bill to redefine the role of nuclear energy within our energy portfolio, prioritizing the protection of local government tax revenue, and subsiding the drastic depletion of severance tax revenue.

Solar and wind energy cannot meet Colorado’s rising energy demands alone. To ensure every community — rural and urban — has access to firm, reliable, energy, the state must diversify its energy portfolio by including nuclear power.

Nuclear power already supplies 20% of the nation’s electricity through just 95 reactors. This remarkable efficiency highlights the potential nuclear energy holds for Colorado, particularly in rural communities. With the retirement of Comanche Unit 1 in Pueblo and Units 2 and 3 scheduled by 2030, Xcel Energy has proposed exploring pathways for Colorado’s energy future, including the potential for a nuclear reactor by 2037. Colorado’s only commercial nuclear power station was decommissioned in 1989. Though operational challenges existed, its safety record remained intact. Public utility companies such as Xcel Energy and San Isabel have since initiated dialogue on the necessity and barriers to nuclear energy in the state.

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Advancements in nuclear technology have made it safer and more efficient. This type of energy is now America’s workhorse, with decades of development to overshadow its outdated, dangerous precedent. Nuclear energy not only offers a steady power supply but also creates good-paying, blue-collar jobs and reduces energy costs. With the advancement of small modular reactors and micro reactors, not only is the workforce safe, but it can also provide energy to the most rural areas of Colorado with little environmental impact.

This smaller footprint will also relieve the burden on farmers and ranchers as it reduces the use of large quantities of water in areas with limited water availability. Nuclear energy is the largest source of clean power in the United States; Colorado has a responsibility to continue to elevate the public’s awareness of the potential it has to positively influence the state. Nuclear energy can drive economic revitalization for communities like Pueblo, Las Animas, Weld, Huerfano and Craig that have relied on other natural resources. A nuclear facility can generate significant property tax revenue and create good-paying, blue-collar jobs benefiting all.

As the state continues its transition to clean energy, communities that rely on oil and natural gas are slowly losing the revenue that funds their local services. This bill would attempt to not only backfill this tax revenue but do so with a form of clean energy. The reduction of oil-and-natural-gas severance tax will bear a significant weight on local governments as these industries continue to be driven out of Colorado. This bill will open the door for local governments to have the opportunity to not only meet unfair emission reduction goals, but do so with blue-collar jobs and property tax revenue.

The state of Colorado stands at a pivotal moment in its transition to clean energy. Though renewable sources like solar and wind are sold as our future, they alone cannot meet the state’s growing energy demands. Nuclear energy offers a proven and reliable option to supplement these sources. By fully embracing nuclear technology, we can create a resilient energy grid that benefits both rural and urban communities. Our bill ultimately represents a critical step toward ensuring a sustainable energy future for Colorado. It also offers a way to revitalize our economy by creating good-paying jobs and ensuring a reliable form of tax revenue stream for local governments.

Colorado, it’s time for us to educate ourselves and consider the potential nuclear energy as the cornerstone of our state’s energy portfolio — providing blue-collar jobs and reliable energy to our rural and urban communities.

Ty Winter, a Republican, represents District 47 in the Colorado House of Representatives. His district includes Las Animas, Baca, Prowers, Bent, Otero, Crowley and Kiowa counties, along with parts of Pueblo and Huerfano counties. He is a former chair of the Las Animas Republican Party and is a fourth-generation ag producer who lives on a ranch in Las Animas County with his wife and two daughters.