February 03, 2015 04:59 PM UTC

Sen. Vicki Marble: Craig, Colorado Has Been "Destroyed"

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• by: Colorado Pols

As recorded today from the well of the Colorado Senate, here's the always-entertaining Republican Sen. Vicki Marble, stating her reasons for supporting Senate Bill 15-044–a measure to roll back the state's renewable energy standard. SB15-044 passed the GOP-controlled Colorado Senate on a party-line vote today but is expected to swiftly die in the Democratic-controlled House.

Sen. Marble of "ChickenGate" infamy demonstrates once again why it's better if she doesn't, you know, talk.

MARBLE: It wasn't a free market system, um, that said that we were ready for it, and people weren't clamoring for it. It was the government that made a moral decision that wind was cleaner than coal, and destroyed Craig Colorado, and decided to build a whole new community rallying around the fake maypole called a wind turbine.

I would say vote no on Amendment 1…

Now first of all, as Mitt Romney discovered when he visited back in 2012, the coalmining city of Craig in northwest Colorado has not been "destroyed." Coal mines in Colorado continue to produce coal for local electricity production and for export. Colorado coal is cleaner than what's found in many other parts of the world, making it a good choice for incrementally reducing pollution even as Colorado is switching over to natural gas production along the Front Range. This means that there will remain demand for Colorado coal into the foreseeable future.

Marble can say what she likes about the "moral decision" the government has made "that wind is cleaner than coal"–you might find that decision more scientific than moral–but it's a simple fact that Craig hasn't been "destroyed," nor anywhere else in Colorado, by the state's renewable energy standard. This statement is so far over the top it's just laughable–much like FOX News' "no go zone" nonsense, it's only plausible if you've never actually been there.

As for that weird bit about dancing around "the fake maypole called a wind turbine?" There's another example of why so many at the Capitol think Sen. Marble is a few bricks short of a proverbial load.