Renewable Energy Measure Gets Look ; Council Will Hear Comments on Proposal Requiring Alternative Sources
Sep 23 - Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Colorado Springs City Council on Wednesday will hear about a November ballot measure that would require Colorado utility companies to develop renewable energy sources.
If approved by voters, Amendment 37 would require that larger Colorado
utilities generate 10 percent of energy from renewable energy sources by 2015.
Most experts think the vast majority of that would have to be produced by wind,
the most competitive of the technologies.
Before the public comment period, officials of city-owned Colorado Springs
Utilities will make a presentation on the amendment and its possible effects on
utility operations and customer rates.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Ave.
Proponents say the cost of renewable energy, particularly wind power, is
competitive with more polluting forms of energy. They cite Xcel Energy's large
wind farm near Lamar, which they say is delivering electricity at a cost
equivalent to that produced by the company's natural gas-fired electricity
plants.
They say 15 other states, including Texas and California, have such renewable
energy standards, and utility officials here have been slow to embrace renewable
energy because they are more familiar and comfortable with traditional
technologies of generating electricity.
Colorado House Speaker Lola Spradley, a proponent of Amendment 37, also says
the development of wind energy would be a boon for struggling farm communities
on the windy eastern plains.
Amendment 37 would cap increases related to developing renewable energy
sources to 50 cents a month on residential utility bills.
Opponents, however, say renewable energy sources are nowhere near as
cost-effective as coal, which supplies the bulk of Colorado Springs'
electricity. If they were, they said, they would have been more fully embraced
by utilities by now.
They say wind power, the least expensive of the renewables, requires a
federal subsidy to be anywhere near as cost competitive as higher-priced natural
gas, and that subsidy has lapsed and might or might not be included in an energy
bill stalled in the U.S. Congress.
They also say because Amendment 37 restricts price increases for residential
customers only, commercial and industrial customers will have to pay for the
development of renewable energy sources.
RENEWABLE ENERGY BACKERS SAY OPPOSITION BROKE FINANCE LAW
Backers of a ballot proposal to require utilities to use more electricity
from renewable sources accused the utility-dominated opposition Monday of
violating campaign finance reporting laws.
The allegation by Coloradans for Clean Energy is the latest proof of the
growing acrimony between the two sides in the Amendment 37 campaign. If the
measure's approved Nov. 2, Colorado voters would become the first in the nation
to impose a renewable-energy requirement.
Proponents said they filed a complaint on behalf of two Xcel Energy customers
with the Secretary of State's Office claiming that Citizens for Sensible Energy
Choices illegally left out in-kind contributions from Xcel in its newest finance
report.
The Secretary of State's Office didn't return a call seeking confirmation of
the filing.
Campaign finance reports filed this month show that Xcel Energy and other
electric utilities, have raised about $540,000 to defeat the proposal.
Proponents have raised nearly $160,000. Jeani Frickey, spokeswoman for Citizens
for Sensible Energy Choices, hadn't seen the complaint, but said that Xcel's
Denver address was used before the group had its office.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS