This piece originally appeared in the Colorado Times Recorder.
Actress and climate activist Jane Fonda campaigned with El Paso County’s Democrats at an event for County Commissioner District 3 candidate Naomi Lopez on Oct. 27. Joining Lopez were Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colorado Springs), Amy Paschal, running for House District 18, and River Gassen running for Congress.
“I started a climate PAC three years ago because, in spite of all the work that so many of us all over the country have done over decades to fight against what we saw coming with the climate crisis, we have not gotten the legislation that is commensurate with what science is saying we need,” said Fonda during her appearance at the zoneFive art gallery in Colorado Springs. “The [Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)] is very, very important because it’s getting trillions of dollars out here. If only the Republicans on various commissions – I’m not naming names – would agree to accept the IRA funds so they can do something about it.”
During an interview last month with Colorado Times Recorder, Lopez, who is running against Republican anti-development activist Bill Wysong, criticized the conservative Board of County Commissioners for failing to take advantage of federal funds. “We have watched the current commission board reject monies that are coming from federal programing or state programing, specifically in the area of green energy, and help for people who are struggling with drug addiction,” she said. “They are rejecting the money because they’re saying, ‘Well, we are a self-control county, and we don’t want to take that money from the Biden Build Back Better plan to increase our green energy or electric car stations within our county. I don’t know why they would do that. Those are the types of things that are directly hurting our community. I definitely will be working with the commissioners to make sure that we take all the money that we have possible to us to serve our residents.”
Fonda expressed confidence in Lopez’s ability to handle pressing environmental concerns in El Paso County. “This woman will fight to clean up the PFAS,” said Fonda. “She will fight for clean water and clean air.”
PFAS refers to a group of industrial chemicals known to cause kidney cancer, liver damage, and other health concerns that have largely phased out of industrial use in the United States but are still found in the fire-retardant foam used to fight petroleum-based fires. Due to the number of military bases in El Paso County, the presence of PFAS chemicals has been a serious issue for years in communities near Peterson Space Force Base and the Air Force Academy.
Detra Duncan, the former Fountain city councilor and Democratic El Paso County Commissioner District 4 candidate, highlighted PFAS contamination during her campaign launch event in September. District 4 is one of the regions most severely impacted by PFAS contamination in El Paso County.
“We have to have people that are thinking about our needs,” said Duncan. “We don’t have enough water. We have PFAS in our water. We have areas that can’t be built on because we don’t have enough water taps. Where is the forward thinking?”
Fonda, a long-time activist, founded her Climate PAC in 2022. In addition to her endorsement for Lopez, Fonda has also endorsed Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin and Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally. In 2019, Fonda was arrested multiple times for climate-related protests alongside other celebrities like Sally Field, Ted Danson and others. No stranger to activism, Fonda was also arrested in 1970, allegedly at the behest of President Richard Nixon, who was displeased by her anti-Vietnam War activism.
“I think one of the big tragedies is that we have become alienated from nature,” Fonda told volunteers and candidates on Sunday. “We know those mountains, the trees, the water – I mean, we’re part of that. If we forget that and we treat that in a transactional way, we’re not going to survive. This is an existential question. This Nov. 5 is an existential election, because what happens is going to determine whether there’s a livable future or not. That’s why here in El Paso County and all over the country, we have to elect people who will serve you guys, who will serve the people and not big corporations, which is what you have now in Colorado.”
