What’s the common thread between Gov. Jared Polis’ roadmap to green energy and his agenda for affordable housing? 

That is, aside from the fact each will backfire on the state’s economy in one or more ways. 

The answer is that both steamroll local laws that are more in tune with the needs of their communities — in pursuit of pipe dreams. 

One aims to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions — when in fact Colorado has virtually no impact on global climate in the first place. The other seeks to create more affordable housing on a wing and a prayer, oblivious to how the housing market really works.

A Gazette report last week on Polis’ mad dash to 100% renewable power generation and “net zero” carbon emissions by 2040 indicates the governor’s green energy gurus are targeting city and county land-use rules that could slow development of wind and solar energy projects.

The Colorado Energy Office, The Gazette notes, has released a report that looked at county zoning, permitting and wildlife regulations that might tie up renewable projects and concluded the patchwork of such local rules may not support the speed and scale needed to meet climate goals. The report hinted a statewide permitting framework could eventually replace the current mix of county-level approvals, encroaching on local governments but supporting the push for more state control under recent energy and building-code mandates.

Meanwhile, our news affiliate Colorado Politics reported that the Polis administration is taking a “victory lap” because some cities are said to be falling in line with statewide land-use mandates he pushed through the legislature to address the oft-invoked housing “crisis.” 

His new laws override local zoning codes in various ways, on matters ranging from the number of housing units per parcel to parking. All essentially serve to cram more Coloradans into less space. Such “density zoning” is the hobby horse of the self-styled urban visionaries at the Capitol who purport to know better than the rest of us how we could live more “sustainably.” Foremost among their priorities toward that end is to get more of us to live closer together. 

But Polis might want to cork up the champagne for now. As Colorado Politics points out, the lauded cities are only in partial compliance with the state’s micromanagement — the highest compliance rate being 60%, according to a new “compliance dashboard” the administration rolled out — while a number of other cities are in open rebellion.

The governor in May issued an executive order requiring local governments to knuckle under or risk losing out on assorted sustainable housing grants. Six Front Range cities filed suit. Arvada, Aurora, Glendale, Greenwood Village, Lafayette, and Westminster contend the executive order as well as the new laws violate the state constitution.

There’s good reason Colorado policymakers — including the framers of our state constitution — gave wide latitude to local governments and particularly the state’s many “home-rule” cities. Locals have a much better idea whether or not they can live with high-rise housing that packs people cheek to jowl, or for that matter, a sprawling array of solar panels in their midst. 

There is of course nothing inherently wrong with such developments, but locals should have a say — and their locally elected governments are the most likely to heed their wishes. It’s what Jefferson meant when he said, “The government closest to the people serves the people best.”

Disregarding that wisdom is problematic even when the goal is achievable. It’s absurd when the goal is a mirage to begin with.