Watty Strickland

Rep. Brittany Pettersen wants an emergency $3 billion more for LIHEAP because “energy costs are rising.” Let’s be clear about why those costs are rising in Colorado. For years, Democrats in the legislature, the Polis administration, and the PUC have pursued natural gas phase-downs, net-zero building mandates, Clean Heat targets that force utilities to cut gas emissions 41% by 2035 (and aim for elimination by 2050), and some of the strictest oil-and-gas rules in the country. New energy codes reward all-electric construction and make staying on gas more expensive. The PUC is limiting investment in the gas system and signaling its decline. The result is higher bills for the people who still use natural gas—the majority of Colorado households. Their solution is not cheaper energy. It’s more welfare. LIHEAP (LEAP in Colorado) is means-tested. Eligibility is capped around 60% of state median income. A working family of four earning above roughly $85k gets nothing, even as their heating and electric bills climb because of the same policies. The middle class that pays the taxes and doesn’t qualify for the subsidy is told to “suck it up.” Meanwhile, the program is available to qualified noncitizens (lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, and others who meet the status rules). So the same political coalition that drives up energy costs through anti-gas, anti-oil, net-zero mandates then turns around and asks for billions more in federal money that flows to lower-income households—including recent legal arrivals—while the Colorado middle class that is too high-income for the cutoff gets no relief. This isn’t a plan to make energy affordable. It’s a plan to keep raising the price of energy and then paper over the damage with taxpayer-funded assistance for the people who qualify under the income rules. The rest of us just pay more. If the goal is lower heating costs this winter, stop the policies that are deliberately making natural gas and electricity more expensive. Don’t just demand more welfare.