While voter approval of the Amendment 37 renewable energy standard was an enormous victory, our work for clean air in Colorado is far from over. Environment Colorado is working to promote clean energy so we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, we are working to reduce air pollution from Colorado’s oldest and most polluting power plants.

Expanding Renewable Energy Renewable energy advocates across Colorado are working diligently to ensure that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) requires Xcel Energy & Aquila to meet Amendment 37’s goal of 10 percent renewables by 2015. Environment Colorado is also continuing its work in rural Colorado to encourage farmers and ranchers to “grow” renewable energy.

Environment Colorado helped organize the “Harvesting Energy Tour” to make the case for renewable energy as a rural economic development tool.

A joint effort with the Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Working Landscapes, and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, former Colorado House Speaker Lola Spradley and Congressman Mark Udall took their message to seven counties in northeast Colorado.

The tour generated widespread media coverage touting the benefits of renewable energy. As the Loveland Daily Reporter- Herald reported, “Stalks of corn blow in the breeze. A hillside is covered with nodding sunflowers. But these fields aren’t for food. They’re growing our fuel.”

Energy Advocate Stephanie Bonin also worked with the Colorado Farm Bureau and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union to pass a resolution in the Legislature to support agricultural energy production in the state.The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Mark Hillman and Rep. Wes McKinley, calls for farmers to meet 25 percent of the United States’ energy demand by 2025.

Energy Advocate Stephanie Bonin makes a presentation as part of the Yuma County Harvesting Energy Tour while U.S. Rep. Mark Udall and former House Speaker Lola Spradley look on.

Cleaning Up Colorado’s Air
Environment Colorado scored an important victory when the Colorado Legislature opposed dangerous rollbacks to our clean air protections. The rollbacks, which were handed down by the Bush administration through the U.S. EPA, apply to the New Source Review (NSR) program of the Clean Air Act.

For more than 25 years, the Clean Air Act has protected health by requiring industrial facilities to install modern pollution controls when they expand operations and increase emissions. In December 2002, the US EPA adopted rollbacks that would allow facilities to increase pollution without improving their pollution control measures. In Colorado, these rollbacks would allow more than 17,000 additional tons of air pollution each year.

Unfortunately, Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) approved these revisions in April 2004 despite strong objections from public health organizations, environmental groups and a coalition of local governments.

This year, the Colorado State Legislature stood up for clean air by rejecting these rules. In a battle that included the Legislature, industry, the governor’s office, and a coalition of public health organizations, local governments, and environmental groups; the Legislature stood firm in demanding stronger air quality protections.

The Clean Air Coalition and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) reached a compromise when the CDPHE agreed to revisit the rules, based on the opinion of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court issued its opinion on June 24, striking down two of the controversial rules. The court’s decision affirms that these rules were illegal and should not have been adopted by the department.

Unfortunately, the fight for clean air faced a setback when the CDPHE violated the agreement and submitted the rollbacks without review. Despite this loss, we will work to make sure that the next set of rollbacks is rejected.

“An unprecedented coalition of conservation groups, labor organizations, public health organizations and local governments have joined forces to protect Colorado’s air,” noted Matt Baker, Environment Colorado’s executive director. “We will continue to fight to make sure the Department of Health and Environment strengthens, not weakens, our air quality laws.”

Fighting Coal Plants
Coal plants are a major source of toxic pollutants linked to a laundry list of public health problems, from asthma to lung disease to premature death. Among the deadly emissions from coal plants is mercury, a neurotoxin that can lead to brain damage and birth defects. Cleaning up dirty, coal-fired power plants and preventing new ones from being built is a top priority for Environment Colorado.

Despite the public health and environmental hazards of burning coal, utilities are still trying to build expensive, dangerous new coal-fired power plants. Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which serves large areas of Colorado, has proposed to building a new coal plant on the eastern plains.

With the passage of Amendment 37, Coloradans sent a clear message that clean, renewable sources should be a priority as we look to fill our energy needs.

“Utilities like Tri-State can more than meet Colorado’s energy needs through with renewable energy and energy efficiency programs,” noted energy advocate Tiffani Lennon. “There is simply no need to burn more coal.”

Gov. Owens vetoes energy efficiency proposal

Gov. Owens vetoed House Bill 1162, sponsored by Rep. Alice Borodkin and Sen. Ken Gordon. This legislation would have put energy efficiency requirements on 14 products starting in 2008.

“Our current energy use is like leaving your front door open in the middle of the winter: wasteful and unnecessarily expensive,” noted Stephanie Bonin, Environment Colorado’s energy advocate. “But just as you can close the door, there’s a simple solution to reducing our energy use: making common products more energy efficient.”

Energy efficient appliances would save Colorado consumers and businesses $500 million per year.

The products covered in the bill include torchiere-style light fixtures, exit signs, reflector lamps, pool pumps, commercial refrigerators and freezers, icemakers, AC-DC converters for electronic devices, pre-rinse spray nozzles used in commercial kitchens, and traffic signals.

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