The office sunsets July 1 unless lawmakers approve a bill to reauthorize the state agency and its 35 positions before the legislative term ends Wednesday.
A top Republican lawmaker is using the deadline to demand significant changes and realign the Colorado Energy Office with the priorities outlined by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Grand Junction Sen. Ray Scott wants to cut the office’s budget by $1 million a year and shift its mission, arguing it concentrates too much on renewable energy sources.
“We are changing the focus of the office to a little more broad base (energy policy) than what they were doing,” said Scott, the Republican chamber’s assistant majority leader. “They get it. I think something happened in November that made them get it.”
The effort reinvigorates an entrenched political debate in Colorado about energy policy, the timing of which only further jeopardizes the office’s future.
