It appears everyday Coloradans will get a direct say in Colorado’s war over natural gas.

On one side of that conflict, Gov. Jared Polis, House Speaker Julie McCluskie and other ruling Democrats are intent on tightening their grip on natural gas production in the name of “clean-energy” zealotry. In their perfect world, natural gas would be a relic of Colorado’s energy past come 2050 — unavailable for you to use to heat and power your home. 

On the other side, endeavors like Advance Colorado are  advocating a more sensible energy policy. Their “all of the above” approach to meeting the economy’s growing energy needs involves a balance between zero-emission renewables and more reliable — yet still clean — carbon-based energy sources like natural gas.  

In other words, Advance seeks to restore common sense. So, it is working not only to counter the current narrative and policy on natural gas but is also trying to safeguard citizens’ access to it.

This battle, one that dates back years under the Gold Dome, could come to a head on the November ballot, when a natural-gas-rights citizens initiative backed by Advance Colorado, Initiative 177, is likely to be up for a vote. 

Last week, Advance turned in 200,000 voters’ signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office. About 124,000 must be valid to make the ballot.

As Colorado Politics reported last week, the initiative would establish Colorado consumers’ right to purchase natural gas for cooking and heating their homes and businesses, as well as the right of distributors and utilities to sell natural gas to homes and businesses.

Meanwhile, environmental activist group Conservation Colorado has introduced four ballot initiatives to counter Initiative 177. Those measures — all yet to reach the required signature threshold — would raise legal liability for oil-and-gas companies deemed to have “damaged the state’s air, water, land or communities.” An invitation to lawsuits, in other words.

Here’s the plain reality they won’t accept: More than 70% of Colorado homes use natural gas despite our state and local governments having already adopted various policies to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels. 

The fact is policies transitioning away from natural-gas production are especially hard on Colorado’s most vulnerable citizens; low-income residents would be squeezed severely if Polis and company’s green-energy dream became reality.

After majority Democrats at the legislature blocked any potential legislation in recent years that would have restored some balance to energy policy, credit Advance Colorado for giving power back to the people to restore some sanity to head-in-the-sand, all-renewables-at-any-cost policies. 

Even the anti-fossil fuel Environmental Defense Fund’s own analysis credited natural gas with enabling Colorado to reduce emissions by 70% from 2010 to 2017. And the American Gas Association reports Colorado natural gas customers save an average of 52% on their energy bills.

In fact, natural gas is cleaner than all-electric, as a new Colorado home powered by natural gas emits 36% less carbon than an all-electric home because the use of natural gas to fuel appliances is 2.5 times more efficient than using electricity.

If Colorado’s energy crusaders really want cleaner, cheaper energy, natural gas simply must be a part of the equation.