Meeting Environmental and Economic Challenges

Colorado is beginning to emerge from the worst recession since the Great Depression. However, families are still struggling; we still have plenty of work to do to restore the state to economic health. The good news is that we live in a state where our clean air, pure water, and scenic landscapes also serve as our economic engine.

Fortunately, state legislators recognized that by strengthening the New Energy Economy they can both better protect the natural wonder of Colorado and help to right our economic ship.

The 2010 session opened with the introduction of House Bill 1001, which increased Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard to 30% by 2020. This bill harnesses Colorado’s enormous renewable energy potential and takes the next step forward in building a new, clean, homegrown energy economy. HB 1001 will create jobs, boost investment in an emerging sector, and stabilize our electricity prices while cleaning up our air, our water, and cutting global warming pollution. In addition to increasing our overall percentage of clean energy, HB 1001also puts an emphasis on producing renewable energy close to where it is consumed. This means there will be more rooftop solar and small-scale wind projects. These localized projects will drive the creation of more than 20,000 jobs in the state in the next 10 years.

In addition to increasing the Renewable Energy Standard, several other bills passed this session that will support and act as a catalyst for the New Energy Economy. These bills include increased financing for energy efficiency and renewables and allowing communities to create solar gardens.

While the legislature significantly grew the market for renewable energy, they also sustained desperately needed funding for state parks and established a first-in-the-nation wildlife crossing measure that will do more to protect wildlife and people. These are both pro-tourism bills and will help to further nurture our second largest industry in Colorado.

Thanks to the vision and leadership of legislators under the Gold Dome, as well as Governor Ritter’s dogged support, Colorado is well positioned to rebound strongly from the economic recession while protecting our air, land, and water.

Best in The West

2010 was a banner year for conservation at the capitol. Dozens of pro-environment bills passed, many of them entrepreneurial and first-in-the-nation models. It is no exaggeration to say that Colorado can declare itself to be the Best in The West on a number of environmental fronts.

For example, HB 1358, the Water Smart homes bill, is the first such policy to pass nationwide that requires home builders to offer as standard options several Water Smart features including water efficient toilets and faucets. Water Smart homes can use up to 20% less water than traditional homes. Choosing Water Smart options up front is far more cost effective than installing them later and goes a long way in reducing residential water usage, thus helping to save one of Colorado’s most valuable resources.

HB 1342, the community Solar Gardens bill, is another first-in-the-nation bill passed this year. HB 1342 will allow renters, people with shady roofs and others to pool their resources together in order to use solar to power their homes and apartments. Colorado also adopted the second strongest Renewable Energy Portfolio standard in the country. HB 1001 will require investor owned utilities to achieve 30% renewable energy by 2020.

Colorado also now has some of the smartest regulations for uranium milling. HB 1348, the Uranium Processing Accountability Act, prioritizes public health by requiring companies to clean up their existing milling sites before expanding operations or accepting new materials. The legislation marks the third of three major bills that have been passed in the last three years overhauling Colorado’s uranium regulations and sets a high standard for other states plagued with past uranium operations such as New Mexico and Utah to follow.

This year the passage of HB 1107 was a significant step forward in preserving our agricultural heritage and protecting tax-payers. This landmark legislation ensures that urban renewal money is spent on truly blighted areas in urban centers rather than being misused to develop productive agricultural land.

2010 is a landmark year for conservation legislation and the real winners are Colorado families. By expanding clean energy opportunities, promoting water efficiency, and requiring corporate interests to be accountable for cleaning up their messes, state legislators will help rejuvenate Colorado’s economy, put Coloradans back to work, and protect Colorado taxpayers.

Clearing the Air

One of the most important conservation victories of the past several years was the state’s adoption of new protections to minimize the impacts of oil and gas drilling on Colorado’s environment and public health. The result of an 18-month rulemaking process with affected stakeholders, followed by approval of the legislature in 2009, these updated rules guide new drilling away from municipal water supplies, ensure limited access to records of toxic chemicals used in the production process, and help minimize damage to key wildlife habitat. Opposition from industry caused the conservation community to make defense of the new oil and gas rules one of our legislative priorities in 2010. Fortunately, none of the threats to roll back or weaken the rules materialized, and most companies now realize that they can still prosper in Colorado with these important protections in place.

The new oil and gas rules and expansion of the state’s renewable energy standard set the stage for the 2010 passage of a groundbreaking clean air measure: House Bill 1365, sponsored by Representatives Solano and Roberts and Senators Whitehead and Penry, is a first-in-the-nation bill to require the closure and transition of the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants on the Front Range to cleaner-burning fuel sources. The coal-fired plants that will be replaced or updated with cleaner sources of energy, such as renewables, natural gas and efficiency, are approaching the tail end of their projected operational lives, face potentially significant and costly upgrades, and emit large amounts of a number of pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment.

For example, the pollution from the Cherokee and Valmont power plants (those slated for closure) is associated with 13 deaths and over 4,000 cases of respiratory disease annually. Economists estimate the adverse health impacts from just some of the pollutants released from these aging power plants impose health costs exceeding $110 million annually.

Furthermore, these impacts are felt nationwide as well. According to the American Lung Association, pollution from coal-burning power plants results in more than 550,000 asthma attacks, 38,000 heart attacks and 12,000 hospital admissions across the country every year.

Passage of this clean air measure was accomplished through an unusual coalition of interests including Governor Ritter, natural gas companies, conservation groups, and public health advocates. Although Colorado conservationists are united in their concern about climate change and belief that closing coal plants is key to addressing this global threat, some groups have concerns about replacing coal with natural gas. Natural gas burns significantly cleaner than coal, but extracting it has adverse impacts on landscapes, wildlife, water supplies and air quality, and often results in the release of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas. As we work to reduce the use of coal, the conservation community believes we must maximize our use of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and minimize the impacts associated with natural gas development.