Mesa County’s State Senator Ray Scott was the key “no” vote that killed a bill to encourage utility companies to build more infrastructure across the state for electric vehicles (EVs). The bill, SB18-216, would have permitted electric companies to build more EV charging stations and recoup the costs of the construction by charging fees to users. The bill would have expanded the use of clean-running electric vehicles in Colorado by making it easier for people to charge them when traveling across the state.
Tanking the bill was a goal of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), an astroturf front group funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, owners of Koch Industries, a private conglomerate with holdings in oil and gas. (An “astroturf” front group is a faux-grassroots group created by corporations to give the impression that widespread support exists for a political position supported by the companies.)
Scott’s biosketch says he is “a fierce supporter of fossil fuel development,” and he is.
Fiercely pro-fossil fuels, anti-consumer, and he’s deplorable
Scott is a climate change denier who argues against increasing the amount of renewable energy required from rural electric co-ops (video).
In addition, Scott lists himself as a “Deplorable” on the Mesa County Deplorables Facebook page, and no wonder.
Scott voted FOR a fetal personhood amendment, and against a bill that would make it illegal to cyberbully a minor.
Ray Scott is also anti-consumer. In 2015, Senator Scott introduced SB15-091 (pdf), a bill called “Reduce Statute Of Limitations Construction Defects,” to protect developers from lawsuits when things go drastically wrong with the homes they build. Scott’s bill would have cut in half the amount of time homeowners in Colorado would have to file lawsuits over construction defects, from six years to three, leaving home buyers holding the bag for the cost of repairing major construction defects.
If you think he’s not doing anything in the legislature, never fear. In 2014 he introduced a bill to create a Scottish-American license plate, something no one in his district asked him to do.
You can’t get much more deplorable, useless or harmful to the wester slope than Ray Scott.
Scott is running for office again in Mesa County this November. AnneLandmanBlog urges a “no” vote for Ray Scott, so the state can more easily make progress toward clean, efficient, renewable energy development.
Also see April 22, 2018, Senator Scott disappoints with vote on electric vehicles, Lou Villaire (an energy analyst at CMU), Daily Sentinel
Anne, nice to meet you Saturday night.
Scott and his ilk are incredibly shortsighted. We need a representative with a vision for the future.