Big day for renewable energy

Ritter signs bills in Boulder County

By Todd Neff
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Gov. Bill Ritter signed two major energy bills Tuesday, requiring major utilities to boost the electricity they generate through renewable sources and fostering the development of electrical transmission to remote wind farms and future solar-generating stations.

Ritter chose a patch of rocky grassland at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center in southern Boulder County as the spot for the signing ceremony, his words amplified by electricity from a fuel cell running on wind-generated hydrogen.

"It is a perfect setting to sign these two bills," Ritter said.

House Bill 1281, of which State Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, was a key sponsor, requires large investor-owned utilities such as Xcel Energy to gradually build to 20 percent generation by wind, solar, biomass and other forms of renewable energy by 2020.

The previous standard, passed through Amendment 37 by Colorado voters in November 2004, called for 10 percent generation via renewables by 2015.

Unlike Amendment 37, the new law includes rural electric cooperatives. Their target is lower: 10 percent renewables by 2020. In both cases, home and business electric bills could increase up to 2 percent to pay for renewables.

John Nielsen, energy program director for Boulder environmental policy group Western Resource Advocates — which helped craft the upgraded standard — said bringing in rural electrical cooperatives was a key part of the bill.

"They're brought in at a modest level, and I think they'll be able to push ahead with renewable-energy tech-

nologies in a way they haven't to date," Nielsen said.

Paula Connolly, Xcel Energy's assistant general counsel, said Xcel will have met the Amendment 37 target by the end of this year and that the company aims to beat the new law's timetable also. Xcel and most rural electric cooperatives supported the bill.

Ritter said the new standard will add $2 billion to Colorado's economy.

Will Coyne, program director for Environment Colorado, said the bill will cut soot, smog, mercury and heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions 11 percent by 2020 while creating thousands of jobs and saving 18 billion gallons of water.

Blake Jones, president of Boulder's Namaste Solar Electric, said the bill is great news for the solar industry. Like its predecessor, it requires that 0.8 percent of the state's electricity demand be met with solar energy. The new bill will double the number of solar panels to be installed to meet that demand.

"It means more jobs, and it means we can continue to grow," said Jones, whose company has already grown from three workers to 22 in about two years.

Ritter also signed Senate Bill 100, which lets utilities charge customers for new electricity-transmission capacity as it's built rather than waiting until the new lines begin operation.

Xcel's Connolly said the new transmission law will help solve a chicken-or-egg problem that makes it hard to connect rural and often distant troves of wind or solar energy with the population centers that need the electricity.

"The combination of these two bills will help us build the transmission necessary to these resources so we can get more renewable energy on our system as soon as possible," she said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Todd Neff at (303) 473-1327 or nefft@dailycamera.com.

Energizing the future

Shifting political winds propel higher mandates

Clint Talbott, for the editorial board
Friday, March 16, 2007

There's little doubt now that higher renewable-energy standards will become law in Colorado. That heartening news illustrates how much the political landscape has changed in three years.

In 2004, Colorado voters approved Amendment 37, which requires large utility companies to produce or purchase 10 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2015. The measure passed despite stiff opposition from Xcel Energy, which advertised its green credentials while funneling cash into the anti-37 campaign.

On Thursday, the state Senate gave initial approval to House Bill 1281, which doubles the 10 percent requirement set by Amendment 37. The measure is sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz, a Snowmass Village Democrat, and Rep. Jack Pommer, a Boulder Democrat.

HB 1281 imposes a 10-percent standard on smaller utilities, some of which serve rural areas. "These new standards will allow more people across our state to take part in a renewable energy economy," Schwartz said.

Gov. Bill Ritter testified in favor of the bill, a relatively rare move for a governor. But Ritter campaigned on a new-energy economy platform, and HB 1281 is a key component of his plan. "Colorado is poised in so many respects to play a leadership role" in renewable energy, the Associated Press quoted Ritter as saying.

One study suggests that raising the renewable-energy mandate could create 4,100 jobs and boost Colorado's economy by $1.9 billion.

In a Senate committee this week and elsewhere recently, some critics doubted such sunny claims. "I'm concerned that the technology is not good enough yet," said Sen. David Schultheis, the Rocky Mountain News reported. "If it were, the free market would gladly develop it."

The bill, which appears likely to pass, would have been politically untenable in 2004, when Xcel was complaining about "hard wiring" energy mandates into state law. This year, however, Xcel supported the bill.

There could be a short-term cost to consumers as Colorado pursues more renewable energy. But the well-known costs of our energy-guzzling status quo are much greater. It's good to see our state's leaders reaching that conclusion.

Report: More renewable energy helps jobs, wages

The Denver Business Journal - 12:33 PM MST Thursday, February 22, 2007

Boosting the amount of power Colorado's utilities would get from renewable resources from 10 percent to 20 percent would lead to more jobs, higher wages and an increase in the state's gross domestic product, according to a report issued Thursday by the Environment Colorado Research and Policy Center.

HB 1281, sponsored by Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, would raise the state mandate for using renewable resources to generate electricity to 20 percent by 2020 for large utilities.

The bill, to be considered by the House on Feb. 23, caps the cost of complying with the mandate that utilities can pass along to customers at 2 percent of their electric bills. The report compared the overall effect of the existing mandate on the state's economy -- that utilities get 10 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2015, a mandate voters approved in 2004 -- to the effect of raising the mandate to 20 percent by 2020. The comparison focused on how each policy affects overall spending, water use and air pollution.

The report found that under the higher 20 percent renewable standard, job creation would be 4.3 times higher, wages paid would be 2.2 times higher, and an increase in gross domestic product would be 1.9 times higher than under Amendment 37's lower requirement of 10 percent.

In an statement about the report, Gov. Bill Ritter -- who has backed renewable energy efforts in the state -- said increasing the requirement to 20 percent would raise Colorado's domestic product by $1.9 million, "bring over 4,000 high-paying, high-skilled jobs and over $570 million in wages paid to our state."

The report also said the 20 percent renewable energy goal also would lead to significant reductions of soot, smog, and mercury pollution, as well as 18 billion gallons of water savings by 2020 because wind and solar power uses less water than power generated using fossil fuels.

The rural economy also would benefit, the report said, via payments to farmers for renting land for wind turbines and increasing the property tax base in rural counties.

Imprisoning the budget

As inmate population booms, state faces a crisis

Colorado is taking a hard look at its prison-sentencing system, and not a moment too soon.

Between 1985 and 2005, Colorado's prison population quintupled, rising from 4,000 to 20,000 inmates. Two years from now, the population will probably reach 25,000, meaning the number of prison inmates will have risen more than six times in 24 years. In the same period, the state's entire population rose by only about 1.5 times.

The exploding prison population comes with a significant price tag: It costs between $40,000 and $90,000 to build each new prison bed, and it costs about $26,000 annually to incarcerate each inmate. With 1,000 extra convicts a year, it all adds up.

But it doesn't compute within the confines of the state budget. In 2005, the Colorado Department of Corrections spent about $533 million, up from $57 million in 1985. In short, the cost of state prisons has risen about six times faster than the population that must fund prisons.

Why does state population matter? Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, passed in 1992, limits the growth of state revenue to the rate of inflation plus population growth. It also limits spending growth to no more than 6 percent annually.

Even with the five-year TABOR "time out" voters approved last year, the prison problem will prove difficult to manage. And since the supply of beds is so costly, it only makes sense to consider the demand.

The steady rise of the prison population is partly a product of stiff sentencing laws passed by the Legislature. The effect is a burgeoning population of inmates guilty of committing lower-level drug offenses and other non-violent crimes.

Last week, the Colorado Lawyers Committee released a report recommending the establishment of a sentencing commission, the Rocky Mountain News reported. Sentencing commissions have helped 17 states curb their prison expenditures and add a dose of reason to sentencing guidelines.

Highlighting the commissions' effectiveness, the lawyers' group noted the experience of North Carolina, which, with the help of a sentencing commission, cut its prison population by more than half in four years, the News reported.

The North Carolina Legislature adopted a new sentencing structure that stiffened punishment for violent offenders and encouraged alternative sentences for non-violent criminals. Such a system, the lawyers' group noted, might not be right for Colorado. But we would be remiss if we did not at least explore the options.

Some lawmakers are ready to take up the cause. During last fall's campaign, for instance, State Rep. Jack Pommer, a Boulder Democrat, effectively and chillingly outlined the clear and present need to confront this issue.

Sentencing commissions and sentencing guidelines are not intrinsically captivating. The topics become more compelling when one considers the looming budgetary havoc. When they return to work this week, legislators should confront this issue in earnest.

Dems want "new energy future"

By Todd Neff
03:44 p.m., January 17, 2007
DENVER — The state’s Democratic leaders will introduce at least a dozen energy-related bills during the 2007 legislative session, ranging from upping Colorado’s renewable energy output to adding power transmission lines to the state’s green-energy hotbeds.

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, and other Democratic leaders announced their plans to "literally embark on a new energy future for Colorado," as Madden put it, at a Wednesday news conference at the Capitol. Gov. Bill Ritter also spoke at the event, and representatives from Xcel Energy, the Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union, wind-energy and environmental groups stood behind the podium.

"We’re going to play a leadership role in a way that in the long run makes a difference in the national energy economy and energy independence," Ritter said.

The legislators highlighted five bills, all of which remain works in process. They range from support for biofuel projects and money for school renewable-energy projects to standards for "net metering," which allows consumers to sell excess solar, wind or other power back to the utility. The two with the biggest potential impact relate to increasing the state’s energy-transmission capacity and raising the percentage of renewable energy Colorado utilities generate above the limits instituted by Amendment 37.

State Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said he’s working on a bill that would require utilities to produce 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Amendment 37, the state renewable-energy portfolio passed by voters in 2004, requires major utilities to provide 10 percent of energy through renewable means by 2015.

Pommer said he’s still working on the bill’s specifics but it could include smaller rural electric associations, a move Ritter said he would support.

Ray Clifton, executive director of the Colorado Rural Electric Association representing 22 member cooperatives, said the association would not comment on specific bills until they could review them. But he said associations should reserve the right to opt out of any such bill, as the Intermountain Rural Electric Association and United Power, which serves parts of eastern Boulder County, did with Amendment 37.

Xcel Energy is investigating how much renewable energy could be introduced to the system without wind power’s inherent ebbs and surges harming it, spokesman Tom Henley said.

He said Xcel supports a Fitz-Gerald-sponsored bill to help energy companies build or upgrade transmission lines by charging customers an estimated 0.5 percent surcharge on monthly bills during construction. Customers generally pay for such infrastructure as part of the price of electricity when it’s eventually delivered. Overhead transmission lines cost between $750,000 and $1 million a mile, she said.

The idea, Fitz-Gerald said, is to boost transmission capacity to the eastern plains, the San Luis Valley and other renewable-energy hot spots.

Fred Grantham, general manager of the Morgan County Rural Electric Association, questioned the cost estimate, saying buried power lines cost two or three times more, and that such costs of right-of-way procurement would add to the bill.

Madden said Democrats are doing what the public has said it wants and that utilities should follow suit.

"Before Amendment 37 passed, we heard the sky would fall," Madden said. "The sky did not fall, apparently. It’s an industry that doesn’t want to change."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Todd Neff at (303) 473-1327 or nefft@dailycamera.com.