October 02, 2014 08:15 AM UTC

Is Mike Coffman Oil Rigged?

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• by: RenewableColorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

In the September 23 Denver Post Congressional debate, Mike Coffman was asked if he believed humans contributed to climate change. He said No.

The audience laughed.

There’s a reason for that. Even though most Coloradans accept and understand climate change – we all remember the terrible wildfires of 2012, and our ski industry is weather-dependent – Coffman has continued to take money from Big Oil and oppose renewables. Colorado is a top-5 producer for advanced biofuels.

According to an analysis by Fuels America, in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District the renewable fuel sector, including conventional and cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, and advanced biofuels and their suppliers generates $377.1 million of total economic output annually. The renewable fuels sector supports 1,322 jobs and generates $87.8 million in wages annually in CD6.

Statewide, Colorado drivers now spend nearly $3 billion per year on foreign oil—enough money to send every graduating high school senior in Colorado to Harvard for a year.

 If graduating students would prefer to stay close to home, this $3 billion dollars spent on foreign oil is more than enough to send them to the Colorado State University or the University of Colorado for four years. This $3 billion drain on Colorado’s economy—roughly a third of which goes to OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya and Venezuela—could get even higher this fall under a proposal to sharply reduce the amount of American-made renewable fuel in the nation’s gasoline supply.

But despite all this Coffman has opposed the renewable fuel standard, which requires a certain percentage of transportation fuel come from renewable sources.

Not surprisingly, Coffman has received $94,000 from opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard, including the American Petroleum Institute and other groups in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard Elimination Act. In 2011, Coffman received a score of 100 percent score from Americans For Prosperity for his votes protecting Koch interests, including ending ethanol subsidies.  Coffman has signed on to a letter urging House leaderships to let ethanol subsidies expire and refuse to create or increase ethanol subsidies. And he voted in favor of the Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act (H.R. 2307), a bill to repeal tax credits for ethanol blenders.

So when Mike Coffman denies climate change, takes money from Big Oil, and undercuts renewables, shouldn’t we ask: Is Mike Coffman Oil Rigged?