News Brief

July 15, 2026

Colorado voters to decide on ‘right to natural gas’ in state constitution

Voters are set to vote in November on a ballot measure pushed that would add companies’ rights to sell natural gas to the state constitution.

Advance Colorado, a conservative nonprofit, gathered enough signatures to add Initiative 177, the “Right to Natural Gas,” to the state ballot in the November election, according to Inside Climate News. The proposed amendment states that “producers and utilities have the right to sell natural gas to homes and businesses.”

If approved, the amendment could make it difficult for local governments to restrict the use of natural gas appliances. Two federal appeals courts recently blocked challenges to such regulations in California and New York.

“This would be the first constitutional amendment to provide a right to a particular fossil fuel,” Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told Inside Climate News.

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