By Sarah Blackhurst

Colorado’s prosperity depends on industries that grow our food, build our future and power our homes. But today, these sectors face an invisible threat from 5,000 miles away: the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). This foreign regulation requires companies to mitigate environmental and human-rights effects throughout their entire global supply chains, effectively importing Europe’s regulatory framework onto American soil.

Families are feeling the pressure of rising costs, and employers are struggling to find workers. Colorado’s long-term prosperity depends on healthy communities and policies that support opportunity rather than simply shifting costs. That is why a simple set of questions should guide every decision: Who asked for this? Who benefits? Who carries the cost? And who gets to make the decision? These questions measure whether families can afford to stay and whether workers can build stable lives.

That matters because Colorado’s economy is connected to global markets. Which means a Colorado business doesn’t have to operate in Europe to get swept up in the CS3D regulation. If one Colorado company supplies a larger company that does, it can be pulled into the same costly compliance regime through contracts it never negotiated and rules it had no voice in writing.

A Hudson Institute analysis warns compliance could cost American firms trillions, with the heaviest burden on agriculture, mining, manufacturing, information and finance — sectors employing more than 379,000 Coloradans. The study estimates the regulation could result in 14,000 lost jobs across the state.

Colorado’s agricultural producers are already navigating rising costs for fuel, fertilizer, equipment, labor and water. Manufacturers face increasing competition and regulatory complexity. Energy producers operate in a rapidly changing policy environment while providing affordable and reliable energy that powers our homes, businesses, schools and hospitals.

New compliance requirements rarely disappear into thin air. They create increased costs borne by businesses, workers, consumers, or communities. When costs increase, they ultimately show up in the prices families pay, delays in business investments and lost opportunities for local communities.

Finally, who gets to make the decision? Coloradans should have a meaningful voice in policies affecting their livelihoods through institutions accountable to the people who live with the consequences. Not imposed by an overseas bureaucracy with no input from the affected parties.

So what can we do? We call on Congress to carefully examine the expanding reach of foreign regulatory frameworks into the American economy and ensure U.S. businesses remain governed by U.S. law.

The Protect USA Act is a clear, necessary legislative solution to re-assert local control, shielding American companies, workers and the communities that rely on them from being forced to comply with foreign mandates that conflict with American law. It deserves strong, bipartisan support from Colorado’s entire congressional delegation. Furthermore, state leaders, industry groups and community organizations should pay closer attention to how international regulations increasingly shape conditions here at home.

As Colorado works to strengthen its economic health, we should consistently ask: Who asked for this? Who benefits? Who carries the cost? And who gets to make the decision?

In the case of CS3D, the answers are not what Coloradans would want to hear, but we should keep asking those questions, in Denver and in Washington D.C. If we start there, we’ll make better decisions, and the people affected by them will at least have a seat at the table.

Sara Blackhurst is president of Action Colorado, an organization that represents the interests of communities across Colorado outside the Denver metro area.