Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Western Slope Republican who considers policies to curb climate change part of an “anti-energy agenda,” has raised $6.3 million for her 2022 reelection campaign. A list of the employers of her top donors published by OpenSecrets.org includes “Jackson Hole Mountain Resort” in Wyoming, at No. 15. 

Jay Kemmerer, who owns Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, has directed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and committees this year, including $5,800, the maximum allowed, to Boebert’s reelection campaign. His wife, Karen, also has donated to Boebert’s campaign.

The support of Boebert is not sitting well with ski industry insiders who are pushing ski areas to advocate for more aggressive climate policies, like the $369 billion climate change resilience investments in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

For more than a decade, a growing contingent of ski resorts, including Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, has worked with climate change advocates like Protect Our Winters to persuade other resorts to do more than pursue environmental sustainability in operations. There’s a growing push for ski areas, winter sport businesses and winter athletes to use their clout to lobby politicians to support climate-friendly policies. 

Read more at ColoradoSun.com.