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Bill challenging Colorado’s renewable energy standard killed in committee

A bill that would reduce Colorado’s energy standard was killed in the Transportation and Energy Committee Thursday.

The legislation would have altered the language of Senate Bill 13-252, which was passed into law in 2013 and caused uproar among traditional energy advocates. SB 252 requires that cooperative electric associations derive 20 percent of their energy from renewable resources. The bill, HB 14-1113, would reduce that mandate to 15 percent.

“The bill reduces the minimum percentage of renewable energy required of investor-owned utilities from 20 percent to 15 percent for the years 2015 through 2019 and from 30 percent to 15 percent for the years 2020 and thereafter. The bill also reduces the minimum amounts for cooperative electric associations from 20 percent to 15 percent for the years 2020 and thereafter,” according to the bill language.



Moffat County Commissioner John Kinkaid testified at the bill’s hearing and said he was disappointed it wouldn’t move further. It was voted down 8-5, he said.

“We were just given, I thought, a short shrift,” Kinkaid said. “We didn’t get enough time to really explain. I had to talk really fast. But I tried to talk with emotion and feeling too, and not just throw a bunch of numbers at them.”



Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Larimer, told Kinkaid that the capitol was listening to rural Colorado and that a “no” vote didn’t mean the legislature wasn’t listening, and it also didn’t mean there was a war on coal.

Contact Erin Fenner at 970-875-1794 or efenner@craigdailypress.com.


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