Democrat Sens. Gail Schwartz, of Snowmass Village, and Bruce Whitehead, of Hesperus, argued for a state mandate this afternoon that Republicans say would put Colorado on the road to higher energy prices and a possible energy shortage.
“Renewable energy is not the problem, but the approach of this proposal is,” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, whose house is run by entirely renewable energy.
House Bill 1001, sponsored by Schwartz and Whitehead, would mandate large utilities to get 30 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020. That's triple the standard before Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter took office and made renewable energy his pet issue.
Republicans say the proposed mandate is too aggressive and could go the way of the failed renewable energy initiatives of California. In July of 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that “California's utilities are barrelling ahead to try to meet a state mandate to garner 33 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020, and some officials are concerned the effort might push up electricity prices and crimp supplies.”
California utilities also complain ambitious renewable energy mandates, combined with tough environmental regulations on conventional plants, are compromising their ability to deliver adequate power.
“Thankfully California has once again shown us the road not to travel,” Lundberg said. “Let’s not mimic their failed policies that have lead to high taxation and high unemployment. We cannot spend and mandate our way to prosperity.”
Proponents of HB 1001 claim it will create thousands of jobs. Republicans counter by calling the bill a union pay-back because it requires union labor to be used for many of the renewable energy installation projects. “Apparently Washington doesn’t have a monopoly on special interests and vote trading,” Lundberg said, referring to U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska who carved out a huge earmark for his state in the healthcare bill.
Lundberg went on to explain that HB 1001 is going to raise energy bills because wind and solar still need to be backfilled by more traditional energy, like coal and natural gas. The new Comanche unit 3 coal plant in Pueblo, for example, was built to backfill wind energy. It would take three wind farms spread out around the state to increase the likelihood of continuous energy production of wind. To match Comanche 3’s output, the consortium behind the farm would need to more than double the size of the current Cedar Creek wind farm in Weld County. That would total 2,051 wind turbines operating on 240,000 acres, or 375 square miles.