Colorado clean energy bill gets pressure from all sides

May 20, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The Sierra Club has launched an ad campaign in response to a bill that is currently sitting on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's desk for approval. Senate Bill 252 (SB 252) will double the percentage of energy rural electric cooperatives must obtain from solar, wind or other green energy sources.

The print and online ads encourage the Governor to sign SB 252 into law to create clean energy jobs in the state. One of the ads features smiling solar workers in a field of solar panels addressing the Governor, the text reading: "Gov. Hickenlooper: Keep Colorado a National Leader in Clean Energy Jobs. Sign SB 252."

"Colorado's progressive renewable energy standards have already created almost 10,000 jobs from new electricity generation and manufacturing facilities," said Nellis Kennedy-Howard, Colorado campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "Senate Bill 252 will expand those standards, and result in more jobs as we continue to develop our wind and solar resources and move away from dirtier fuels like coal."

On the other side of the issue, the Governor is facing pressure that is just as strong from the coal and mining industries to veto the bill.

The Colorado Mining Association released this statement to its members regarding a veto of the bill:

"This legislation would hurt the mining industry and rural communities dependent on the jobs, revenues and affordable electricity provided by electric cooperatives and related industries. The business community and organizations throughout the state have united in opposition to this measure ..."

A letter written directly to the Governor by "ranchers and laborers; mine workers and local elected officials; mom and pop businesses and large manufacturers; concrete mixers and home builders; and small not-for-profit electric utilities," read:

"…a doubling of Colorado cooperatives' renewable energy standard in less than seven years is a wildly unrealistic timeframe, given the years it takes, even under the best of circumstances, to permit and construct the infrastructure necessary to enable such development – most notably, transmission lines, substations and natural gas plants to supplement intermittent resources like wind and solar…"

The letter closed with an impactful punch.

"Senate Bill 252 is not a step on [the] path [toward Colorado renewable energy] -- it is a leap over a dangerous cliff."

For more:
- see the bill
- see this fact sheet
- see this letter
- see this ad

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/colorado-clean-energy-bill-gets-pressure-all-sides/2013-05-20