Colorado Coalition for New Energy Technologies Update

 

Update on Renewable Portfolio Standard and Air Cleanup Legislation

9 May 2002

 

 

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Colorado Renewable Portfolio Standard and Air Cleanup Legislation Derailed at 11th Hour

 

In a series of 11th-hour legislative maneuvers last night, the Colorado Legislature failed to pass two bills to create a state renewable energy portfolio standard and to clean up coal-fired power plants.

 

SB 180, sponsored by Senator Terry Phillips (D-Louisville) and Representative Lola Spradley (R-Beulah), would have implemented a state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring that Xcel Energy provide or acquire 400 megawatts (MW) of generation from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and biomass (including presently existing renewable energy capacity), by 2005, increasing to 800 MW in 2010 and 1,500 MW in 2020.  It contained a number of other provisions protecting consumers and the implementing utility (Xcel Energy) against cost increases.  This bill passed both the Colorado Senate and House, but the Senate failed to act on concurrence (agreement with the House amendments) before it adjourned shortly before midnight yesterday.  If this legislation had passed, Colorado would have been the 13th state in the country to adopt a renewable portfolio standard.

 

SB 190, sponsored by Senator Phillips and Representative Diane Hoppe (R-Sterling), was backed by Xcel Energy and a coalition of environmental groups, and would have expanded a successful program to clean up power plant emissions at three additional locations in Colorado.  It would have allowed Colorado power plant operators and related businesses (such as refineries) to enter into voluntary agreements to reduce air pollution.  In return, the legislature would assure these businesses that they would not have to make additional investments in emission controls for a specific time period.  Though this legislation passed both the Colorado House and Senate, the two chambers were unable to agree on a final version last night before the legislature adjourned for the year.

 

Regarding the renewable portfolio standard, Mike Sloan of Virtus Energy Research Associates in Austin, Texas points out that states with such measures have reaped considerable economic benefits.  For example, after then-Governor George W. Bush signed an RPS bill similar to SB 180 in Texas in 1999, “new wind energy development in Texas has totaled approximately one billion dollars [since 1999].”  Diane Kolby, Executive Director of Prowers County Development, Inc. in Lamar, Colorado, adds that “Wind energy projects can provide substantial economic benefits for Prowers County. This industry will increase our tax base, diversify our economy, create new jobs and provide landowners with significant additional income. We will continue to support efforts at the state and federal levels to get such a renewable portfolio standard signed into law.  This type of legislation is necessary to encourage private investment in rural areas, not only in Colorado, but around the country.”

 

With Colorado’s legislature now in adjournment, focus shifts to the federal level, where House and Senate conferees on the energy policy bill will negotiate the inclusion of a national renewable portfolio standard of ten percent in final legislation to be considered later this year by both chambers.

 

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Craig Cox

Executive Director

Colorado Coalition for New Energy Technologies

303-679-9331

coxcraig@att.net

 

The Colorado Coalition for New Energy Technologies brings together businesses and non-profit groups to encourage environmentally responsible economic growth through the efficient use of Colorado’s abundant and clean sources of energy.