John Hickenlooper: “Colorado is one of the most beautiful places not just in America but in the world. In Denver, we have got over 300 days…”

“Colorado is one of the most beautiful places not just in America but in the world. In Denver, we have got over 300 days of sunshine annually. We have access to incredible green spaces, and if you look west, you can lose yourself in the best view in America--the Rocky Mountains. But it wasn't always this way. In the 1950s, Colorado was and still is one of the fastest growing cities in America. Even stretching back to my days as mayor back in the 2000s, one of our main goals was to attract young people to not just come and ski in Colorado but to visit Denver, perhaps consider starting a business there, building a business, growing your family, building a life. To put it in perspective, between 1950 and 1960, Denver's population grew by just about 20 percent. This brought more cars, more industry but also more pollution. By the 1970s and 1980s, the smog was so bad that, nationally, there was a nickname for Denver--the 'brown cloud.' There were days you couldn't even see the mountains at all, which, as a geologist and a Coloradan, pained me. But then something incredible happened. In 1970, a Democratic Congress passed the Clean Air Act. It was signed into law by a Republican President. It is a reminder that clean air has never been a partisan issue. It benefits literally everyone. The Clean Air Act helped to propel States like Colorado and others to turn things around, to look at that pollution in a different light.”