Why I Worked on the Energy Compact with Action Colorado

By Amy Oliver Cooke

When I first heard about a diverse group of Coloradans coming together to address our state’s broken energy policy, I was both skeptical and curious. What I quickly learned is this: never underestimate Sara Blackhurst and Dave Shipley of Action Colorado.

Their vision was ambitious but necessary: to draft a consensus document that brought many voices to the table and offered a path forward for Colorado energy policy. Sara was warned that I would be “a problem” for the group. Some warned me that the effort would be futile. Sara ignored the critics, and so did I. I’m glad we did, because I am proud of what this group accomplished.

The group didn’t agree on everything, and we still don’t. But we share one undeniable conclusion: Colorado’s current energy trajectory is a crisis in the making. If unchecked, it will become an economic disaster for the state, a financial disaster for families and small businesses, and a reliability disaster for the region and the nation.

That is why we agreed on the core principle: Colorado’s energy policy must change. It must prioritize reliability and affordability, while respecting the families and communities that work hard to keep the lights on every day. No one got everything they wanted, but that was never the point. The point was consensus—and we achieved it. Policy is, after all, the art of the possible.

I won’t disclose the names of my fellow contributors. It is their choice whether to be public in this environment. What I can say is that everyone contributed. We debated language, definitions, and framing, but never the goal. Throughout our conversations, our tone remained civil, constructive, and focused on solutions. I would work again with any of them.

This is not alarmism; it is realism. Colorado has an energy policy problem that must be solved. Yet leadership in the executive branch and legislature has proven either unwilling or unable to act. We believed that reason, physics, and economics would be enough to prevent Colorado’s slide into expensive, unreliable power. They weren’t—and the state has kept moving in the wrong direction.

That’s when Action Colorado stepped up. They invited people from across the state—different demographics, different politics, different motivations—to set aside personal agendas and work together for the good of Colorado. While many of us participated, the leadership and credit belong to Action Colorado.

I am honored to have played a small part in this effort. The Energy Compact is not perfect, and it doesn’t resolve every disagreement. But it proves that Coloradans from different walks of life can come together around a shared truth: our energy policy must change if we want a future that is affordable, reliable, and sustainable for all Coloradans.