A group of winter sports athletes were on Capitol Hill Thursday to a make a chilling prediction: they say the state of Colorado stands to lose billions of dollars if Congress doesn鈥檛 do something about global warming.

Pro skier Chris Davenport is among three athletes visiting Colorado lawmakers this week, telling them winter has become an endangered season. He says Snowmass Mountain in the central part of the state is proof that climate change is happening.

鈥淚t has the largest permanent snow field in Colorado, this gigantic mass of snow that has been around for centuries. In the last ten years it鈥檚 completely disappeared. It鈥檚 gone.鈥�

The athletes say humans caused this 鈥� and humans need to do what they can to fix it. Their Protect Our Winter campaign is an effort to push Congress to protect E-P-A regulation of carbon emissions. 600 thousand jobs and a 66 billion dollar snow sports industry are on the line, says Aspen Skiing Company Vice President Auden Schendler.

鈥淐learly 鈥� we鈥檙e in a defensive posture.鈥�

The economic climate has Republicans 鈥� and some Democrats 鈥� on the offensive against government regulations.

Elizabeth Wynne Johnson - Capitol News Connection.