The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate took aim at the EPA and touted the benefits of fracking at a campaign forum Wednesday night in Weld County, a drilling epicenter in Colorado.

Peg Littleton said she supports eliminating the federal Environmental Protection Agency, while Tim Neville said he would defund the EPA regulators and Robert Blaha said he wanted to reduce its reach. Jerry Natividad attacked the agency for “killing hundreds of jobs” but didn’t explicitly endorse its elimination.

The issue is just one that illustrated the commitment of the seven candidates at the forum (out of more roughly a dozen in the race) to the state’s energy industry.

“I say, ‘Drill, baby, drill,’ ” said Littleton, an El Paso County Commissioner and member of Colorado’s homeland security and hazards advisory committee.

Later, she took a step further as she attacked scientific reports showing links between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and earthquakes, suggesting God is the reason they occur.

“There have been earthquakes long before we ever did fracking,” she said. “Let’s be honest. You know God is kind of in control of those. And not by us drilling down in the ground and doing the fracking.”

All the candidates at the forum hosted by the Republican Women of Weld touted a push toward the nation’s energy independence, linking it to national security.

Three candidates — Littleton, Neville and Darryl Glenn — endorsed ending government subsidies for renewable energy.

“We have to have the political will to stand up to the tree huggers,” said Glenn, an El Paso County commissioner.

Keyser, a former state lawmaker who worked a brief time on a Western Slope oil rig, said he supports a diverse portfolio of energy.

“It’s not just oil and gas, it’s a diverse portfolio, like an investment portfolio … that includes renewables, that includes technology.”

Keyser added that “energy companies could be solar companies in 10 years. But right now … we need to make sure we are developing our oil and gas resources.”

Natividad, a Jefferson County businessman, endorsed a similar approach that included solar and wind energy, while Blaha, a business consultant, said the private market should decide the best energy sources, not the government.

Jerry Eller, a longshot candidate in the race, highlighted technology, saying there is hope in hydrogen power and magnetic-powered trains.

On fracking, Neville said it’s a private property issue and he raised his voice to strongly endorse energy exploration on government-owned public lands. “That is our land in Colorado,” he said. “That is our land.”

Glenn pivoted the fracking question to the issue of climate change, suggesting he doesn’t believe the scientists. “Show the data,” he said. “Let’s have that discussion.”

Keyser said education is the key to expanding fracking in Colorado.

“As a U.S. senator,” he said, “I will make sure I travel around the state and I will talk to people about the miracle that is a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.”

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank