Friday, we broke down the rule that choked our highways.
Today, we lift the curtain on the people and organizations pulling the levers.
This isn’t conspiracy theory. It’s process.
It’s not “secret cabal.” It’s perfectly public what they do — just rarely examined.
1. Meet the Architects
- Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) – Executive Director Elise S. Jones. Based in Boulder. Works in six-state region promoting decarbonization, clean transportation, smart land use. (SWEEP)
- Colorado Energy Office (CEO) – Executive Director Will Toor. Oversees state’s energy & transportation-electrification agenda. Former Boulder County Commissioner, strong climate advocate. (Autos Innovate)
These two names – Jones and Toor – keep cropping up because they’re part of what I call the Climate-Levers Network: nonprofits + government + policy pushes all aligned. Both former Boulder County Commissioners. Both “FOJ” (Friends of Jared, Polis, that is).
2. Why It Matters
When Jones and Toor show up at meetings, rack up awards, talk about “mobility equity,” “mode shift,” “clean transportation,” they’re not fringe activists. They are the gate-keepers for policy.
You might think: “Fine – they’re free to push this tripe.”
Fine. But here’s the issue when one small network dominates:
- They define what counts as a “solution” (transit, electrification, land-use changes).
- They show up on influential commissions (Jones on the Transportation Commission). (Colorado Department of Transportation)
- They help craft the very rules (GHG rule, transportation planning standard) that lock infrastructure decisions into their worldview.
- And their advocacy hat stays on when they move into public roles – meaning what was once external pressure becomes internal governance.
That’s not democracy. It’s oligarchy by policy-nerd.
3. Coordinated Advocacy: Your Comments Are Already Written
Here’s how this works in the public record:
- SWEEP issues action-alerts: “Submit supportive comments! Use this template!”
- The CEO then issues funding opportunities tied to “local climate action” & states that “local governments will play a major role in hitting net-zero.” (Colorado Governor’s Office)
- During the GHG Planning Standard rule-making, dozens of comments piled up supporting the rule – before many highway users even knew what it was.
So when the TC says “we heard from the public,” what they often mean is: “we heard from a mobilized, well-funded advocacy machine.”
Meanwhile, you and your buddy, both stuck on I-25 at 7 a.m., never got a chance.
4. Awards, Appointments & the Insider Loop
- In 2025, SWEEP honored Will Toor with a “Leadership in Energy Efficiency” award. (SWEEP)
- Jones had been a county commissioner, then NGO head, then state appointee. She bridged activism and governance. (SWEEP)
When your rule-makers and your advocacy groups blur into the same people, you lose any meaningful separation between building policy and advocating policy.
5. Why Weld County and I-25 Get the Short End
Let’s bring it home:
The network above is focused on climate metrics, mode shift, clean transportation, and livable cities.
What they’re less focused on?
- Freight mobility across the plains.
- Safety improvements in high-growth corridors.
- Road capacity in places where driving isn’t a lifestyle choice – it’s the only realistic option.
- Funding for infrastructure built to move goods and people across rural and suburban Colorado.
So what you get is:
Policy built in Boulder boardrooms by FOJ’s” → Advocacy campaigns → Rules written in Denver → “Public comment” heavily stacked by the same advocacy networks → Legislation and rules that deliver transit-centric, climate-centric outcomes.
And rural/frontier/high-growth‐corridor Colorado folks end up stuck in this elitist hellscape.
6. What Part 3 Shows – and What’s Next
Part 3 makes clear:
It’s not that the folks above are evil.
It’s that they’ve found the machine. And they’re running it.
In Part 4, we’ll dig into how “public comment” was captured – how the appearance of public input became a numbers game, while everyday people stayed sidelined.
In Part 5, we’ll bring this all back to the real world: the people of Weld County, the commuters on I-25, the ranchers and energy producers, the young families who think they can’t finish their lives here.
If you thought the rules were the problem – get ready. The real issue is who built the rules, how they built them, and how many of us were left out of the process.
As they say in my former business, Stay tuned.
📚 About This Bibliography
If you’ve made it this far, you’re already doing more homework than most people ever do on how Colorado actually runs. Good.
What follows are the public documents, staff pages, press releases, and advocacy materials that show:
- who the key players are (Jones, Toor, SWEEP, the Energy Office),
- how advocacy organizations publicly describe their goals,
- how these same organizations mobilize “public” support during rulemaking,
- and how appointees, nonprofits, and state agencies often sit inside the same policy ecosystem.
You don’t have to read every line.
But if you’ve ever wondered how a relatively small number of organizations and leaders keep appearing across energy, transportation, and climate policy — these links make the connections visible.
You’ll see exactly what I described in Part 3:
A climate-policy network that both advocates for and implements the rules shaping Colorado’s transportation, land use, and energy systems.
These aren’t secret documents.
They’re just rarely presented together.
Now they are.
SWEEP – Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
Elise Jones, Executive Director (official SWEEP staff page):
https://www.swenergy.org/staff/
Press release announcing Elise Jones as SWEEP’s Executive Director:
https://www.swenergy.org/elise-jones-new-executive-director/
SWEEP action alert urging public comments in favor of the GHG rule
(illustrates organized advocacy during rulemaking):
https://www.swenergy.org/colorado-ghg-transportation-planning-standard-action-alert
SWEEP 2025 Energy Efficiency Awards, honoring Will Toor:
https://www.swenergy.org/sweep-energy-efficiency-awards-2025/
Colorado Energy Office (CEO) & Will Toor
Will Toor – Executive Director Biography (Automotive Innovation):
https://www.autosinnovate.org/events/speakers/will-toor
Colorado Energy Office announces local climate-policy funding
(illustrates state-advocacy alignment with GHG goals):
https://governorsoffice.colorado.gov/governor/news/energy-office-announces-launch-funding-opportunity-support-local-policy-adoption-advance
Colorado Energy Office – mission and programs overview:
https://energyoffice.colorado.gov/
Transportation Commission Appointment (Elise Jones)
Colorado DOT – Transportation Commission bio for Commissioner Elise Jones:
https://www.codot.gov/about/transportation-commission/commissioners/elise-jones
GHG Rulemaking Public Comments
CDOT GHG Rulemaking main page – contains comment archive & public engagement summary:
https://www.codot.gov/programs/environmental/greenhousegas/ghg-planning-standard-rulemaking
CDOT’s GHG Planning Standard presentation (with “majority supportive comments” slides):
https://www.codot.gov/programs/environmental/greenhousegas/assets/ghg-planning-standard-presentation.pdf
Relevant Roadmap Context
Colorado GHG Pollution Reduction Roadmap (2021) – transportation & “mode shift” strategies:
https://spl.cde.state.co.us/artemis/govmonos/gov112g832021internet/
