Colorado gasoline warning label bill killed
A Colorado Senate committee Wednesday killed a bill that would have required health and climate change warning labels on gasoline pumps in the state. The measure had the backing of dozens of environmental groups but faced fierce opposition from industry and the governor’s office.
House Bill 1277 would have required retailers to warn consumers that burning fossil fuels “releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating.”
The bill narrowly passed the state House in early April and continued to face intense lobbying from gas station owners, chambers of commerce and oil and gas drillers. Gov. Jared Polis’ office had said the governor was “skeptical” of a warning label’s potential, and environmental groups said Polis’ representatives had warned them he would veto it.
Opponents said Colorado was already taking many other more effective policy measures to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ozone-causing emissions from transportation and other sources. Gas station owners said a new set of labels would further junk up pumps and stations with bureaucratic language, while the punitive fines in the bill for noncompliance were unfair to businesses.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also testified against the bill, questioning the effectiveness of a warning label and arguing the state should concentrate on other greenhouse gas and ozone strategies.
“Transparent labeling of impacts is a long-established and effective tool for public health,” 350 Colorado’s Heidi Leathwood countered in a news release lamenting the bill’s death at the hands of the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee.
The bill was unanimously rejected by the panel at the request of Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Jefferson County Democrat and one of the bill’s main sponsors. She didn’t explain her decision, but Capitol politics were clearly the reason.
Environmental groups squarely blamed the governor.
“Groups were counting on Gov. Polis to stand up against the assault on truth coming from the new federal administration, but this trust was misplaced,” Leathwood said. “The governor denied this opportunity to inform the public about the health and climate impacts of burning fossil fuels. Instead, disinformation and political influence of the oil and gas industry achieved an all-too-common result — delayed action, refusal to stand for the truth, and corporate interests above public health.”
Colorado legislation and regulatory action have targeted emissions from many sources through a combination of subsidies for replacing fossil fuel engines with clean electric, and stricter caps on emissions from major polluters like oil and gas drilling and natural gas distribution. But lawmakers are wary of tactics that confront auto users directly with higher gasoline prices or other restrictions.
The Polis administration has opposed EPA imposition of reformulated gas sales on the Front Range during summer months to fight ozone, saying they feared consumers would pay up to 50 cents more a gallon. Those fears did not come true in 2024.
In 2021, state officials abandoned a staff draft for a plan to reduce individual commuting miles from employees at large companies. Under that plan, Colorado businesses in high-ozone areas that host more than 100 employees would have had to limit the number of workers commuting alone in cars to 75% of their workforce starting in 2022 and 60% by 2024.