Rollback of renewable-energy standards dies in Colorado Legislature

An effort to roll back Colorado's renewable energy standard in the state Legislature died Monday in a House of Representatives committee. Democrats on the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted on a party line over Republican objections to kill Senate Bill 44. The bill, which passed the Republican-majority Senate last month, would have cut the minimum portfolio of energy the state's investor-owned utilities would have to obtain from renewable sources from 30 percent back to 15 percent by 2020, and it would have reduced the same standards for cooperative electric associations from 20 percent to 15 percent. Sponsoring state Rep. Dan Thurlow, R-Grand Junction, said the standards have helped to create a thriving renewable-energy industry but also have raised energy prices considerably in Colorado — to the point where companies are looking twice at the cost of locating here. "If we're trying to attract businesses, one of the biggest things we can do is give them a low cost structure," Thurlow said. But environmentalists and renewable-energy leaders argued that the rollback would send the wrong message about the state's commitment to clean power and that it could hurt a solar-energy industry that now employs 4,200 people in this state. "I'm sending you a message: The business community is very supportive of the renewable energy standard as it stands and does not support a rollback," said Roger Freeman, a partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver and policy chairman for the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association, who noted that no utilities came to testify for the bill.