WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper released the following video across his social media platforms to celebrate Earth Day:
Watch Hickenlooper’s video on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
“As Coloradans, we know how important it is to take care of this planet we call home,” Hickenlooper said in his video. “In Colorado, we just had our warmest winter on record, and across the state we had our lowest snowpack in a century. And we’re already seeing the impacts. Farmers and cities are having to cut down their water use, and the risk of extreme wildfire is looming over our communities.”
Hickenlooper continued: “This all comes at a time when the president of the United States says that climate change is a hoax. He cut climate research all around the country and he gave up U.S. leadership in climate science. So let’s cut the bull: climate change isn’t a hoax.”
Hickenlooper played a critical role in negotiations for the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment to combat climate change by any nation to date. The Inflation Reduction Act worked to jumpstart America’s transition to clean energy in Colorado and across the country, in addition to building out our clean energy manufacturing capacities, accelerating our advanced energy technologies, and upskilling our workforce and creating thousands of good paying jobs. As MAGA Republicans and the Trump administration attempted to gut the Inflation Reduction Act, Hickenlooper fought back to protect investments already underway and to stop unnecessary energy price hikes on working families.
Hickenlooper has been outspoken against Trump administration cuts to public lands and led an effort against the admin’s plans to overturn the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Public Lands Rule. Last March, he introduced legislation to reinstate the thousands of National Park Service and Forest Service workers the Trump administration illegally fired. Hickenlooper also helped lead the fightagainst Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to sell off more than three million acres of public lands. Hickenlooper first sounded the alarm last year when he voted against the Republican budget resolution and introduced an amendment with colleagues to protect public lands from being sold to pay for Republicans’ tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
As Colorado governor, he worked with environmentalists and oil and gas companies to create the world’s first methane rules, which were later used as a national model by the Obama administration. Hickenlooper blasted the Trump admin’s reckless decision to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “endangerment finding,” which determined that greenhouse gas pollution harms Americans and is a serious threat to public health.
In the U.S. Senate, Hickenlooper convened the bipartisan Colorado River Caucus to help address the Colorado River crisis. Hickenlooper has consistently advocated for a seven-state agreement for the post-2026 negotiations. He has also introduced legislation to improve ways that we measure snowmelt, support water conservation projects, and hire more water project navigators to help states, Tribes, and rural communities secure resources for projects that improve water efficiency. Hickenlooper also helped secure millions in funding for water conservation projects in the West from both the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
As a former geologist, Hickenlooper sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and is the only peer-reviewed scientist currently serving in the U.S. Senate.
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