Colorado Dem Running for Congress as 'Friend' of Ranchers Urged Meat Producers To 'Transition' to Plants To Fight Climate Change

The Democratic nominee in Colorado's Eighth Congressional District, Manny Rutinel, is running as a "friend" of the district's many ranchers. In 2022, he wrote an article advocating for a "farm transition climate policy" through which meat producers would be paid to farm plants rather than raise livestock due to "animal agriculture's climate impact."

Rutinel coauthored the article—titled "Reducing Animal Agriculture Emissions: The Viability of a Farm Transition Carbon Offset Protocol"—while working as an attorney for the left-wing climate organization Earthjustice. It states that "animal agriculture is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions" and emphasizes the need for "aggressive policies" to "address the environmental and social harms associated with our current food system." The article's proposed solution is a "livestock-to-plants farm transition project," which would pay meat producers to "transition" to "plant-based farms."

The article calls to fund such a project through controversial "carbon offsets," a practice in which companies pay to reduce carbon emissions elsewhere in an attempt to compensate for their own. It also points to government funding, citing a 2021 bill in California that "would provide grants to animal farms wanting to transition to plant-based agriculture." After implementing that transition, the article argues, the federal government could place a "moratorium on the expansion or creation" of large-scale livestock farms to stop those that decline to transition to plants from "compensat[ing] for the exogenous decrease in herds elsewhere."

"The United States can also look abroad for inspiration for such policies, with Denmark recently passing an agricultural bill pledging more than $90 million in bonuses for farmers who grow plant-based crops for human consumption," Rutinel writes in the article. "Carbon offset registries, legislative bodies, and administrative agencies may implement these findings to help address the environmental and social harms associated with our current food system."

The article reflects Rutinel's long history of climate and vegan activism—one he is attempting to distance himself from while he runs to unseat Republican congressman Gabe Evans in a district that President Donald Trump narrowly carried in 2024 and that is full of meat producers and oil workers.

As a student at the University of Florida, Rutinel staged protests calling on his peers to "change their lifestyle" and "go vegan," at one point donning a sign that read, "Animal liberation is human liberation." He went on to Yale Law School, where he was arrested for storming the field during the 2019 Yale-Harvard football game to demand the schools divest from fossil fuels. Rutinel and his fellow protesters accused the schools of being "complicit in climate injustice," chanting, "hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go" and delaying the game by nearly an hour. At the age of 22, Rutinel called to give animals the same legal rights as people, the Colorado Sun reported.

Rutinel, whose father is part of a long-running socialist political dynasty in the Dominican Republic, also wrote blog posts advocating for socialism and veganism, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Headlines included "What Would Jesus Do? Socialism" and "The 5 Stages of Becoming a Vegan."

Rutinel has attempted to present a more moderate image while running to win over voters in the ranching-dominant swing district. He often wears boots and a cowboy hat, though he was born in Los Angeles. He says he supports an "all-of-the-above energy solution" that "protects good-paying jobs in our communities" and "will always fight to support farmers and ranchers." He also says he now eats meat because "it's important … to be able to enjoy the delicious products that Colorado ranchers make." Eighty percent of sales at the eighth district's 2,000 farms stem from livestock and poultry.

Colorado Livestock Association CEO Travis Grant said he "can't believe" that Rutinel actually supports his industry given the Democrat's past positions.

"He's so willing to put on a dime-store cowboy hat … and wear the boots and talk about he's a friend of ag or he's not a friend of ag whenever it's convenient," he told the Free Beacon. "That sort of flexibility is just not something that I'm looking for as somebody who's going to represent the farmers and ranchers that I represent."

"It's going to be hard to know what the flavor of the day is. Under one administration, he may be a friend of ag, and the next, he may not be," Grant continued. "I'm inclined to believe he's going to do what he needs to do to get elected and then he's going to push for an agenda that he's got a long history of pushing for."

Rutinel's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to his "Reducing Animal Agriculture Emissions" article, Rutinel referred to a part of the eighth district as "one of the country's most polluted regions" as recently as July 2023, a remark that was likely aimed at the district's livestock and oil industries. Rutinel made similar remarks in his ActBlue fundraising page for his 2024 state house race, pledging to reject donations from "polluting industries." He has not tweeted the word "pollute" since 2024.

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