Sen. Ellen Roberts challenged my organization in her Feb. 17 Herald column when discussing her bill regarding biomass and Colorado’s ground-breaking Renewable Energy Standard that voters passed in 2004. She called our opposition to the measure “flimsy at best.” In fact, our opposition is substantive and should make her reconsider her support of this misguided measure.
Roberts’ bill is a threat to the RES, an extremely successful policy program that requires electric utilities to generate power from clean energy resources. In the 12 years since its passage, the RES has created thousands of jobs and generated millions of dollars of economic development in our communities. It provides myriad benefits, including cleaner air and decreased carbon pollution, which helps protect us from drought and extreme weather.
But Roberts’ bill would result in less renewable energy being produced in our state. This is because her bill establishes new “multipliers,” which allow utilities to count the power that they produce or purchase at a higher rate than they actually generate for the purpose of complying with the RES. Roberts’ bill would allow biomass projects to qualify for three times more credits than the amount of energy they actually produce. This means less renewable energy produced, meaning fewer jobs, less economic development, and dirtier air across the state than otherwise would have been possible.
Conservation Colorado has previously supported multipliers, but we did so early on when the RES was getting off the ground because they were designed as a mechanism to get the renewable industry started and give utilities a leg up. Moreover, foundational to our support of multipliers in years past was that the policies included a substantial increase of the renewable standard in order to make sure Colorado produced more renewable energy, but this bill does no such thing.
If Roberts’ goal is to create more demand for biomass, then she should increase the total RES and grow demand for all forms renewable energy. Her bill doesn’t do that. What it does do is threaten our clean energy economy in Colorado.
Pete Maysmith, Conservation Colorado
Durango
