San Miguel County residents vote in favor of the environment

‘Just because the election is over doesn’t mean the work is done locally and regionally’

By Sophie Stuber, Telluride Daily Planet

Although Donald Trump’s election win was met with general dismay by environmentalists and climate scientists, Colorado and San Miguel County voters approved several measures that will help with water conservation and green energy transition.

At the state level, voters approved proposition JJ, which will allow the state to keep all taxes collected from sports betting to be used for water conservation.

“It’s exciting to find more money to put into water initiatives, especially as federal funding might be more difficult,” Emma Gerona, executive director of EcoAction Partners, told the Daily Planet.

“This is a really good thing for diverting more funding toward projects that will help farms and ranches and river recreation needs and conservation projects,” Ruthie Boyd, Sheep Mountain Alliance program coordinator, told the Daily Planet.

Voters passed a measure to authorize sports betting in 2019, and economists now estimate that the 10% tax on betting will generate even more revenue than the annual $29 million initially predicted. After taxes reach $29 million each year, any additional earnings will be transferred to the state’s water plan implementation cash fund to be used for water conservation and protection projects.

Locally, the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) ballot question 3A narrowly passed with 52.90% of people voting yes. The measure approved an annual tax increase to help fund the gondola after 2028, replace the existing gondola and help fund SMART bus services. With the approval of 3A, 87.8% of tax revenue will be used as a reserve to fund the new gondola and for gondola operations and maintenance. SMART can use the other 12.2% of tax revenues for maintaining and expanding their regional public transit system.

The gondola is the only free public transit system of its kind in the United States and currently transports about three million people per year. With a projected four million riders by 2037, proponents of the ballot measure said that the new gondola will help meet rider demand. The gondola is a popular route for local workers commuting between Telluride and Mountain Village and helps reduce road traffic and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“This could have positive impacts for parts of the Climate Action Plan and trying to reduce emissions,” Boyd noted.

The Ouray and San Miguel County Regional Climate Action Plan was set in 2021 by EcoAction Partners and Sneffels Energy Board. The plan has 21 objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region, with a goal of a 50% reduction by 2030 and a 90% reduction by 2050.

“I think having funding for our gondola and SMART is really crucial moving forward to meet our climate goals,” Gerona said. “It’s great to see our community investing in these initiatives.”

Some opponents of 3A wondered whether replacing the gondola was necessary now and claimed the measure was excessive spending after taxpayers have already experienced notable tax increases recently.

Question 1B, the other local measure loosely related to the environment and open space, was approved with 65.08% of the vote. The measure will reallocate surplus revenue from San Miguel County Parks and Open Space to affordable housing. Parks and Open Space currently has surplus funding from its mill levy. This ballot measure would help accommodate the need for deed-restricted housing in San Miguel County by using a portion of the Parks and Open Space mill levy funding for housing opportunities. Specifically, the reallocation would devote 1.0 mill to parks and open space, and 0.5 mill to affordable housing.

In San Miguel County, 79.8% of voters cast ballots in this election, which is 12% more than the turnout in Colorado as a whole.

Going forward, some activists and researchers said that it will be up to the state and local governments to try to mitigate the likely deregulation of environmental and climate protections under the Trump administration.

“It's been a long couple of days reflecting on the new reality and the contrast that it's going to have with everything that the Biden administration has done for climate,” Boyd said. “Some of the things that we've seen locally with the Inflation Reduction Act funding have been really positive.”

Boyd encouraged people to stay involved in local efforts and keep an eye out for new projects and opportunities to organize.

“There's a lot of room for community resiliency and action around the climate to continue, and I would just encourage people to stay involved and diligent. We will have to be creative and stubborn moving forward, but I think that it can be done.”

Gerona echoed Boyd’s statements.

“Just because the election is over doesn’t mean the work is done locally and regionally. There are a lot of ways to stay involved.”

Read the article here.