Colorado Solar Industry’s Insatiable Appetite for Subsidies
With a quivering voice, Jim Walsh, owner of Bella Solar Energy, described his business troubles to the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee. His message, if not his tears, was repeated yesterday morning by six other solar power representatives. They presented a compelling case that “the New Energy Economy is dead,” in the morbid […]
How Xcel Avoids the Rate Cap on Green Energy
The problem with “green” energy is that it costs more than conventional energy. We can all agree that a solar powered future would be great, but most of us also agree that we’re not willing to pay five to ten times what we pay now for energy in order to try to achieve that future. […]
The Conservative Case for HB 1240
Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly will have a rare opportunity to repeal an energy tax this Monday, when the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to take up Representative Spencer Swalm’s HB 1240. Rep. Swalm’s bill targets a surreptitious energy tax that was authorized by the General Assembly in 2008 with […]
Senate Republicans Ask for Review of CDPHE’s Regional Haze Plan (Bonus: Regional Haze Primer)
The Politics Colorado Blog today reports great news: “Tuesday, Senate Republicans sent a letter to Senate President Shaffer asking Legislative Council to hold a public hearing to review the changes made to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for implementing regulations for “regional haze”… …”We think it’s important that Legislative Council hold a public hearing on […]
CDPHE Lied about HB 1365 Deadline, Coloradans Pay the Price
Usually, it takes about 18 months for the PUC to deliberate a major acquisition plan for new power plants. For HB 1365, however, the PUC decided on a $1.3 billion plan, affecting almost 1,000 megawatts of electricity generation, in only four months. According to the PUC staff (p 14), the truncated timeline shortchanged the vetting […]
Breaking News: Binz Withdraws
A few minutes ago, I was sent a copy of a letter from PUC Chairman Ron Binz to Governor John Hickenlooper, in which Binz withdraws from consideration for another four year term. I just called the PUC media office, and a spokesman confirmed that Binz is stepping down. He was appointed PUC Chairman in January […]
What's wrong with "least cost" for CO ratepayers?
In State Senator Scott Renfroe’s closing remarks to the State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee, he reasonably questioned members while asking for support of their support for SB11-058: “What’s wrong with striving to have our energy sources be the least cost?” Apparently everything. The committee defeated Renfroe’s “Electric Utilities Employ Least-Cost Planning for New Resource Acquisition” […]
Xcel getting even fatter off Colorado ratepayers
Xcel Energy just announced its 2010 earnings and the Minnesota based energy company did very well this year: We had another very successful year in 2010, said Richard C. Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer. We delivered earnings in the upper half of our guidance range. This represents the sixth consecutive year in which we […]
Energy legislation to watch in 2011
The 2011 legislative session began in earnest last week in Colorado. Below are several bills we are watching. SB11-058 Electric Utilities Employ Least-Cost Planning for New Resource Acquisition Senator Scott Renfroe (R-SD13) is the prime sponsor. The Public Utilities Commission must consider “cost” when deciding on new energy facilities and resource acquisition. Cost to ratepayers […]
Colorado Environmental Coalition Suffers from Cognitive Dissonance
Yesterday the Colorado Environmental Coalition, a Denver lobbing group for “green” policies, issued an illogical press release. On the one hand, it quotes Executive Director Elise Jones saying, “When the dust settles on this session, we will judge our success based on the savings families across Colorado will see in their pocketbooks and the jobs […]
CDPHE’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan: At Least $100 Million Too Expensive
On January 15, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) submitted to the General Assembly a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to comply with the Regional Haze provision of the Clean Air Act. The General Assembly must approve the SIP before it can be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for final review. […]
Ritter's "New Energy Economy" Based on Old Fallacies
by Ari Armstrong If you think corporate welfare “creates jobs,” you might be an outgoing Colorado governor. As governor, Bill Ritter signed “an unprecedented 57 clean-energy bills into law,” a January 5 release from Colorado State University reviews. Now Ritter will join the university’s Center for the New Energy Economy, drawing a privately funded $300,000 […]
