Race for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat returns to drought-stricken West Slope
Senator Michael Bennett, left, and Joe O’Dea, right. (Bennet: Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline O’Dea: Courtesy of Sage Naumann Campaign/O’Dea)
The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Colorado returned to the Western Slope on Tuesday, where incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennett and Republican challenger Joe O’Dea debated issues in a region heavily impacted by both the transition to an energy clean and a historic mega-drought fueled by climate change.
First-time candidate and Denver construction CEO O’Dea returned again and again to a central theme of his campaign, emphasizing the need to reverse the tide of what he called a “war on the ‘energy”.
High inflation rates won’t come down until “we get energy costs down,” O’Dea said during Tuesday’s debate, held at the University of Colorado Mesa and hosted by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and Colorado Public Radio.
The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Colorado returned to the Western Slope on Tuesday, where incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennett and Republican challenger Joe O’Dea debated issues in a region heavily impacted by both the transition to an energy clean and a historic mega-drought fueled by climate change.
Responding to a question about the reception of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, he told moderators: “We currently have a foreign policy that does not involve our energy.”
And when asked by moderator and CMU student Halima Behroz how the United States should help promote access to education for women and girls in developing countries, O’Dea again pivoted on the “price of diesel over $5.50 a gallon”, which he said prevents the United States from helping “other countries solve their problems”.
The latest response drew a rebuke from Bennet, who is seeking a full third term in the Senate in a tough midterm election year for Democrats.
“His answer to everything is fossil fuels, fossil fuels, fossil fuels,” Bennett said. “Even a question posed by Halima about our obligation to women around the world. I don’t think fossil fuels, fossil fuels, fossil fuels are the answer to that.”
In the first of two televised debates ahead of the Nov. 8 election, both candidates presented themselves as pragmatic moderates who would walk down the aisle and represent Colorans of all political stripes, including rural parts of the state.
“I would put my record of bipartisanship and civility against any other member of the Senate,” Bennett said. “And if you send me back there, I will continue to do so.”
In a state that has had an increasingly Democratic lean in recent election years, Bennet has edged O’Dea in the polls by more than 8 percentage points on average, according to election analysis website FiveThirtyEight.
In his effort to secure an upset victory, O’Dea portrayed himself to voters as a moderate on social issues. He won the GOP nomination in June with 55% of the vote in a head-to-head primary battle with far-right state Rep. Ron Hanks, who has repeatedly spread false conspiracy theories about the Washington election. 2020.
“I believe the party system we have here in the United States is broken – I think Senator Bennet and I probably agree on that,” O’Dea said. “I will not vote the party line.”
Climate issues in the spotlight
Bennet and O’Dea noted their common ground on a range of issues, including support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children and other policy reforms. immigration, as well as changes to streamline federal permits for energy projects.
“We need to get rid of permits so we can increase wind, solar, nuclear, bring all of those energies online so we can start replacing fossil fuels,” O’Dea said. “But that won’t happen tomorrow.”
But Bennet has repeatedly criticized O’Dea’s opposition to the Cut Inflation Act, the $750 billion package of clean energy spending and health care measures passed by Democrats. of Congress earlier this year.
“We just passed the most significant renewable energy bill in the history of the United States of America, and frankly, planet Earth,” Bennett said. “And Joe O’Dea has said over and over that if he had been in Washington he would have voted against this bill.”
Asked about the future of the energy industry on the West Slope, where much of Colorado’s natural gas extraction takes place, Bennet promised “bright days ahead” and pledged to continue to support gas production and export infrastructure.
“This country is going to lead the transition to renewable energy,” he said. “We must reach net zero by 2050 – and even when we get there, we will continue to use fossil fuels.”
Fueled by climate change, a “mega-drought” that has affected the Colorado River Basin since 2000 broke records to become the region’s worst drought in at least 1,200 years. Rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have warmed much of the Western Slope more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial averages.
Responding to a question about the renegotiation of the Colorado River Compact, the 1922 interstate agreement that governs water use in the West, O’Dea said additional conservation efforts should be carried out primarily by the states. of the lower basin like California.
“We did our job, but the lower states didn’t,” O’Dea said. “We have to push California back. We need a leader in this who’s going to hold California accountable and say, “Look, the water you’re claiming as a right doesn’t exist.”
Bennet again criticized O’Dea’s opposition to the Democrats’ climate bill, which contained $4 billion for Western drought-resilience projects, and stressed the need for “federal support » funding to support local conservation and storage efforts in the river basin.
“One of the reasons I really want to return to the Senate is to help lead the negotiations between the upper and lower pools,” Bennett said. “The fate of the American West depends on our ability to do so. Our entire way of life, from agriculture to our ski resorts to our entire economy, depends on our success.
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