Colorado’s Senators Voted in Favor of Putin’s Pipeline and Against America’s Energy Workers

March 1, 2022

Colorado Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO)have betrayed America’s energy workers and empowered Vladimir Putin. While they represent one of our nation’s most robust energy-producing states, they decided to put the needs of a Russian tyrant ahead of those of America’s energy workers when they took two key votes in the Senate.

The first of these votes took place in February of 2021, as the Senate debated the Keystone XL Pipeline. This pipeline would connect refineries in the United States to oil supplies from our friend and neighbor Canada. The project would have supported 11,000 American jobs and helped keep our country energy dominant. Unfortunately, President Biden killed the project on his very first day in the Oval Office. A month later, the Senate voted on a bipartisan basis to support the cancelled project but Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper voted against it. The Keystone Pipeline is still not completed.

The second vote took place in January of this year as the Senate considered imposing sanctions on the entities involved with building and operation of Vladimir Putin’s Nordstream 2 Pipeline. Putin’s pipeline would move Russian gas to Western Europe. Putin has long used Russian energy as a geopolitical weapon. He uses it to fund his tyranny and now the whole world has seen his brutality in Ukraine. Unconscionably, Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper voted against imposing sanctions on Putin’s pipeline. They voted to allow the Kremlin’s project to move forward.

Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper are more beholden to the extreme green agenda than America’s national interests and security. They voted against a project that would keep America energy dominant and instead voted to bolster a global tyrant. Power the Future is holding them accountable for their decision to block American energy and to give a green light to America’s adversaries.

Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power the Future said: “Each one of these Senators must explain to our families why they voted for Putin’s Pipeline and against their own constituents along with the Ukrainian people. Each one of these Senators had the chance to stand up to Vladimir Putin’s money-making exports and instead they all decided to display Profiles of Cowardice. It’s all well and good to express support for Ukraine on social media, but when these lawmakers had a chance to do the right thing, they failed to meet the moment.”

The people of Colorado must demand answers from their Senators and ask them why they chose to stand with Vladimir Putin instead of America’s energy workers.