Phil Weiser on climate change

Colorado gubernatorial candidate has few specifics but speaks broadly of himself as a convener of talent in helping find solutions

by Allen Best

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen Phil Weiser in person during the last year. One was at a funeral in southwest Colorado, but most have been at conferences. “Have I been to a conference lately where I have not heard Phil Weiser speak?” I ask jokingly.

The occasion on Sunday afternoon was different. It was a distillery in Lakewood. Weiser, in his quest to secure the Democratic nomination for Colorado governor, had been scheduled to speak specifically about his views on energy and climate.

And so, as the bartender shook the ice, Weiser talked about conserving water, a strategy for responding to wildfire threats, and — in response to multiple questions from his audience — about his stance on data centers. Would he agree to impose a moratorium on data centers?

Oh, and by the way, why he is the best candidate to become the next governor.

Weiser stands a good chance. The state attorney general for the last eight years, he won top line in the voting at the Democratic state assembly in April, meaning his name will go first, before that of Sen. Michael Bennet. Ballots go out on May 29, and the voting will end on June 30.

It’s possible, but unlikely, that we will have a Republican governor. Democrats since 2018 have had a lock on all state offices and majorities in both legislative chambers. As long as Trump remains the leader of the Republican Party, that’s unlikely to change, no matter how qualified the Republican. For the record, two state legislators, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Rep. Scott Bottoms, are vying for the Republican nomination.

As for Weiser, he knows how to file lawsuits against the Trump administration — “64 and counting,” he told several dozen supporters, most in their 30s and 40s, at the distillery. \And, unlike Bennet, he has not had to decide the best way to negotiate the Republican stronghold on Congress.

“Senator Bennet voted for Doug Burgham, who’s pushed an attempt to sell public lands, to be our interior secretary,” said Weiser. “He voted for Sean Duffy (as transportation secretary), who sought to undermine the EV transition. He voted for Chris Wright (as energy secretary), who’s trying to keep coal plants open in Colorado against their will, and he voted for Brooke Rollins, who fired Forest Service firefighters last year, right before fire season. I’ve had to sue all four of those individuals for the harm.”

Bennet had said he believed that since the cabinet secretaries would win approval in the Republican-majority Senate, it was best to vote for their approvals in hopes that this creates better relations with them. He later said he regretted his decision.

“If we want to know we’re getting someone who’s a fighter who won’t bend the knee, who won’t try to accommodate and make nice, take a look at my record,” said Weiser.

Within the context of Colorado and climate, though, Weiser describes himself differently. He is a leader, he said, who is “ready to learn, ready to ask, ‘What else can we do? How else can we move forward?’”

His true north, he said, was “leading with inclusion, with listening, with innovation and collaborative problem-solving.” He has demonstrated how this is done, he said, through his work with local governments in distribution of federal money in response to the opioid epidemic.

In this barroom address, Weiser found ways to weave in mention of such things as the Voting Rights Act of 1964, removed from the climate change topic.

He also talked about his family history. His mother was born in a Nazi concentration camp only days before liberation by the U.S. Army’s Third Armed Division. That was formative in his mental outlook, he said.

“I grew up believing in and cherishing the values of this nation. That’s why this work is so personal. I also am a parent of two young kids who, when they look at their future, they ask, will there be a planet that we can even live on, because of the challenges of climate change? It’s not some future threat, it’s already here, and so we not only need a fighter who will fight for our values, we need a builder, a proven problem-solver.”

But what specifically would he do?

Weiser talked about creating resilience, citing the risks of wildfire that have caused Xcel Energy in the last year to repeatedly shut down distribution of electricity. This, he said, was now a new normal, part of the tool kit of utilities.

“We need to be thinking, how do we prevent wildfires through mitigation?”

He suggested biochar as one solution for use of combustible wood in diseased and aging forests. In Colorado, the use of biochar — the use of dead trees and other vegetative matter to create a soil amendment and to sequester carbon — is currently extremely limited. He did not, however, provide details about how this might be done.

Weiser also talked about more localized smaller-scale energy generation, what is called distributed generation, as is being pursued by United Power, Holy Cross Energy and other cooperatives.

Part of his thinking is to create a position of a chief resilience officer, to lead combined efforts of state and local governments. What exactly this resilience officer would do, though, is not clear. Nor was it clear how a resilience officer has duties different from that of a sustainability officer.

In his talks elsewhere, Wieser has often talked about places outside the Front Range, particularly the Western Slope and the San Luis Valley. He did in this case as well, suggesting the development of enhanced geothermal — the production of electricity by harvesting the heat from deep underground — in places like Craig.

Shifting from energy, he talked about water, alluding to the declined water availability to farms in San Luis Valley.

The problems there come in two broad categories. One is the recurrent idea of exporting water to the Front Range. He vowed his opposition, an easy position. And he also cited the work of the Rye Resurgence Project, which seeks to replace thirsty crops grown in the San Luis Valley with the less-thirsty rye. Only small acreages have been planted in rye so far.

Weiser also found a way to cite the wisdom of Russ George, a Republican and former speaker of the House from Rifle in the 1990s who later oversaw the natural resources and transportation departments in the administrations of both Republican and Democratic governors.

In short, as is perhaps true of most campaign speeches by candidates for governor or other offices, Weiser managed to use his time on the stump to name drop and idea drop, never going into any sort of depth.

In the Q&A portion, several people wanted to talk about data centers. Weiser said he would not support a state-wide ban on new data centers. He cited Craig as an example of a place that would love to have a data center and, if paired with enhanced geothermal, could do so without impairing the state’s climate goals. Of course, he also said he would support guardrails on energy and water use.

After the session, I asked Weiser about whether he would support incentives to attract data centers. “If there’s a justified economic development benefit, I would consider what makes sense,” he said. “Craig is a perfect example what that could look like.”