Energy Bill Worries Businesses

Energy Bill Worries Businesses

Posted: Mar 06, 2010 6:39 PM MST
Updated: Mar 06, 2010 6:42 PM MST

TAMI BREHSE
TBREHSE@KJCT8.COM

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - A bill that would raise renewable energy standards for utility companies is sparking some heated debate. House bill 1001 would require certain utility companies to produce 30 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

Some say it could create as many as 20,000 jobs. But others say it could cost them theirs.

"I'm already hurting on utility costs," says B2 Orchards owner Brad Brophy.

He's worried the bill will end up increasing energy costs, in turn upping his electric bill.

"It will increase utility bills in the future," Brophy says, "which are already outrageous."

Opponents of the bill say renewable energy is too expensive to survive in the market on its own, so the government is supporting it through mandates like this one.

"The costs have to be absorbed somewhere," says opponent Kelly Sloan. "They either have to be absorbed by the company, or more generally passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices."

But supporters of the bill say the mandates are necessary if we ever want to see green energy succeed.

"Solar and wind and renewable sources do need to have a leg up and be put on a level playing field," says Lou Villaire of Atlasta Solar.

He says the bill would bring much-needed job opportunities.

While the new requirements might bring jobs to the solar industry, opponents of the bill worry it'll take jobs away from oil and gas.

"At best it's worthless, at worst it's damaging," Sloan says.

But others say the end result will be worth it.

"When we look at the true costs of fossil fuels versus the cost of renewable energy," Villaire says, "the renewables come out on top."