Woodruff: Inaction is unacceptable

As we picnic and listen to Holst’s “The Planets” and our children enjoy the first few weeks of school, it is easy to appreciate how lucky we are to live in this beautiful valley and look forward to the return of the Aspen Design Conference and closing out the summer with Luke Combs over Labor Day.

In addition to the diversity of experiences we enjoy, as one of your elected county commissioners, I know very well from my many conversations the diversity of opinions we also have here. I’m fortunate to work with the conservation community to protect our vast open lands one day, and then, the very next, the ranching community to support their requests for compensation from the challenges inherent to the reintroduction of wolves into our ecosystems. 

I know we do not agree on everything, but one area where we can come together is that sound science should inform decision-making. Since 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has relied upon the Endangerment Finding, which recognizes greenhouse-gas emissions endanger our health and welfare. This finding is based on well-established, scientific research that has been proven over the decades. 

Unfortunately, we are no strangers to the impacts of climate change. We have lower spring snowpack, earlier spring runoff due to increasing temperatures, and an increase of 40 frost-free days on average from the 1960s to the 2010s. The serviceberries and Gambel oak leaves are crimson, flaxen, and plum — and not from lower evening temperatures but from this extreme drought we face. The leaves are covering the trail in August; marcescence, there is no delay to their leaf drop. This extreme drought we face is impacting nearly everyone around. Many of us are under water restrictions. I had several conversations with ranchers who received the earliest call ever from the District 5 Water Engineer to shut off their ditches. A neighbor’s well is dry in August, and she is looking for solutions for her family and her neighbors. No matter your perspectives on climate change, we can all agree it’s getting hotter and drier here in the valley, and that inaction is unacceptable.

That’s why we are leading the way in Pitkin County. We approved 18,300 solar panels on a former bio-solids waste site. We had Olympic athletes and elementary school students testify in support of a solar array off of Highway 82. In 2025, CORE, one of our key partners, has awarded over $750,000 in grants to valley residents, businesses, and governments to electrify everything from induction cooktop to cold source heat pumps. I recently visited with our Public Works Department to enjoy the vehicles we are rolling out to our Sheriff’s office and Open Space and Trails. The new Chevrolet Silverado has a 493 mile range. The only anxiety is not range — it is velocity. We can make a transition, and we are. 

We also know we cannot act alone. Sadly, when we need leadership more than ever, the EPA has proposed rescinding the Endangerment Finding that so much of our national climate policies depend on. Our community showed up in droves to testify on behalf of a solar field on an Aspen Consolidated parcel, and we need your voice to show up once again. The rescission of the Endangerment Finding threatens what we have fought for, our powder days, our air quality, and the rural recreational resort we call home. 

We have one month to comment on the proposed EPA rescission (epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/proposed-rule-reconsideration-2009-endangerment-finding). As a community, we may disagree on country vs. classical (This summer, I enjoyed Kacey Musgraves and Edgar Mayer, equally), but we come together to skin for buttermilk pancakes, banter about the accuracy of the monsoon forecast, and to cherish our natural environment. We can embrace science and protect the health, safety, and welfare of our neighbors and communities. We can leave the world in a better place. We can live in a valley that will always have 100 day ski pins and savor moments where we can just lie on our blankets as a community amongst “The Planets.”