Author: Simon Lomax – The Center Square
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LOMAX | ‘Raise the Bar’ restored as court lowers the boom on anti-biz groups
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Talk about a short-lived victory. Anti-growth and single-payer healthcare activists barely had a chance to celebrate a single judge’s ruling against Amendment 71, passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2016, before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver restored the constitutional provision in full. All told, it took just over two weeks for the 10th…
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LOMAX | Federal judge’s ruling on ‘Raise the Bar’ could prove a hollow victory for activists
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The activists behind a failed government takeover of Colorado’s healthcare system – which would have raised state taxes by a massive $25 billion – are celebrating right now. Not a victory at the polls, of course, but a series of two rulings from a federal court judge in Denver in mid-February and again last week. The rulings targeted Amendment 71, or “Raise the Bar,”…
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LOMAX | Bankruptcy pitch in Lafayette shows desperation of national anti-fracking groups
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As a reporter and an advocate, I have spent most of my career following the tactics of national environmental groups, both in Washington, D.C. and in the states. A recent fly-in visit from one such group – the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, or CELDF – shows just how much those tactics have changed. When…
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LOMAX: The New York Times hailed the benefits of fracking. What’s left for anti-oil and gas groups?
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How often do you think the New York Times and a Colorado Springs conservative ever agree, about anything? That’s the question I was asking myself after reading recent news coverage in the Times about the geopolitical importance of U.S. oil and natural gas production. The Jan. 28 story explained how much diplomatic and economic leverage we now have over countries like…
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LOMAX: Billionaire poised to bankroll another round of green politics in Colorado
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Tom Steyer is back in Colorado politics. Well, actually, he never really left. Anyone who follows politics in our state should know Steyer well. He’s the environmental activist and California hedge-fund billionaire who spent more than $7 million on a failed campaign against U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R) in 2014. He poured at least $2 million more into Colorado…
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LOMAX: Anti-oil & gas groups are on the political fringe — where they belong
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For years, national anti-oil and gas groups have attempted a hostile takeover of Colorado politics. They have tried to turn Democrats and Republicans against one of the state’s most important economic sectors – an industry that provides energy for every business and every household across Colorado, not to mention thousands upon thousands of jobs. The…
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LOMAX: Latest bid to ban oil & gas drilling in Colorado is déjà vu all over again
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The more things change, the more they stay the same – especially if you’re in the business of running anti-oil and gas campaigns in Colorado. In late December, a coalition of environmental activist groups announced the introduction of a statewide ballot measure targeting Colorado’s energy sector. “We’re doing this for a second time,” said campaign…
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LOMAX: Hardline groups use hardball tactics to vilify, manipulate state oil and gas regulators
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The interview was unusually candid. Quite possibly, the interview subject – one of the nation’s top environmental activists – forgot he was on the record. “New injunctions … and new bad press take a terrible toll on agency morale,” he said, describing his group’s legal and political tactics against environmental regulators. “They feel like their…
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LOMAX: Solar trade barriers won’t help American workers
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There’s nothing wrong with a vigorous debate over where, when and how we get the energy needed to run our households, businesses and the broader economy. But too often, the debate over energy policy is falsely portrayed as an all-or-nothing, zero-sum game. In reality, it takes a mix of different energy sources working together to…
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LOMAX: Reality catches up with anti-oil and gas groups as they take a victory lap
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My first real experience writing about politics was in the Deep South – Mississippi to be precise. Southern politicians are famous for their expressions and sayings, but these words of wisdom have always stuck with me: “In politics, nothing is ever as good as it seems, and nothing is ever as bad as it seems.”…