The Obama administration’s top environment regulator, after visiting Aspen’s X Games on Thursday, said neither falling oil prices nor Congress will block economic gains to be made by addressing climate change.

But in Colorado, a potentially devastating shift from snow to slush has begun.

“That’s why we’re here. People here do know the climate has changed. It’s been a notable change in how much snow is falling,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a Denver Post phone interview. “If we don’t take action now, that change will be a lot more extreme.”

Surging oil supplies and falling prices will not delay a transition away from fossil fuels in favor of renewable wind and solar energy, McCarthy said. “The work we’re doing with states, to think through our clean-power plan to regulate pollution from power plants, will really provide opportunities for significant investment in renewable energy,” she said.

In Colorado, she stood by Aspen Mountain’s Silver Queen Gondola with Aspen Skiing Co. chief Mike Kaplan and warned that shorter winters and poor snow will hurt business. “Aspen could resemble Amarillo by 2100,” McCarthy said, according to her prepared remarks.

Icecap Note: Amarillo had 12 - 14” of snow this week.

EPA officials calculated that snow-related recreation contributes $67 billion a year to the U.S. economy, supporting 900,000 jobs.

Snowboard stars Gretchen Bleiler and Alex Deibold joined McCarthy at Aspen. The EPA has partnered with the nonprofit Protect Our Winters to enlist athletes and ski industry officials as advocates for climate-change action.

Please contact Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, bfinley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/finleybruce and tell him where he is going wrong.

Icecap Notes: