Highlights and lowlights of SB252 testimony

by amy | 10:04 pm, April 9, 2013

Despite close to seven hours of testimony on SB13-252, a bill to raise the renewable energy mandate 150 percent on rural electric co-ops, it is very clear that the bill’s prime sponsors Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) do not understand their own bill and didn’t bother to consult those [...]

Instability of sustainability: green agenda ignores science and technology

by amy | 6:37 pm, March 31, 2013

Could this happen in Colorado? Maybe…
A Wall Street Journal article reports what some in Colorado’s energy industry know, too much reliance on wind and solar can make an electric grid unstable and lead to power outages.
California regulators and energy companies met last week out of fear that the state’s electric grid is so unstable due [...]

David Schnare: We’re putting global warming on trial in Colorado

by amy | 5:27 pm, March 22, 2013

David Schnare, the Director of Environmental Law Center at the American Tradition Institute and lead attorney in a lawsuit (ATI v. Epel) against Colorado’s 30 percent renewable energy mandate said in an interview on the Amy Oliver Show on Thursday that global warming will be put on trial when he argues that the mandate violates [...]

A high tab: NREL’s $135 million toast

by amy | 10:10 pm, March 14, 2013

I didn’t make up this. The Denver Post lede paragraph in a story about the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is almost laughable:
Hooking a toaster oven to a solar panel is not an easy thing, but the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s new $135 million integrated energy facility will able do just that. While it may [...]

Eco-left prepares to double down on renewable mandate

by amy | 9:47 pm, March 14, 2013

By Peter Blake
This column appeared originally on Complete Colorado Page 2.
When the runners are closing in on the finish line, move the tape farther back.
That’s the usual strategy employed by greens when it comes to establishing renewable energy standards for electricity production. It’s a marathon that never ends, and the added cost to consumers is [...]

2012 snapshot of New Energy Economy’s cost to ratepayers

by amy | 1:45 am, January 21, 2013

The numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty. Four of the largest cost driving pieces of legislation enabling Colorado’s New Energy Economy cost Xcel Energy ratepayers nearly half a billion dollars in 2012 alone. Adding insult to injury, some of the electricity produced wasn’t needed in the first place according to a just released report [...]

No such thing as a free lunch or free energy

by amy | 9:03 pm, October 30, 2012

The Independence Institute’s Todd Shepherd, along with this blog, have spent two years covering, and ultimately exposing, what is now the Abound Solar scandal. Understandably, much of the focus is now on Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck’s criminal investigation as well as a Congressional Oversight Committee inquiry into the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer.
Recently released [...]

Baker out at PUC

by Amy Oliver | 8:59 am, March 31, 2012

Public Utilities Commissioner Matt Baker is leaving the PUC to join the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a left-leaning non-profit, as “an officer in its Environment Program” foundation officials announced yesterday. Former Governor Bill Ritter appointed the environmental activist Baker in 2008, and his term had expired without current Governor John Hickenlooper acting to reappoint [...]

Energy policy killing Craig, CO

by Amy Oliver | 8:18 am, February 17, 2012

Colorado energy policy: “You have this cheap, reliable, affordable energy source that the state is mandating be replaced with intermittent, unreliable, expensive energy sources. What does that mean for folks?” For Craig, a beautiful town of 10,000 people in Northwestern Colorado, it means the death of the town. Perhaps the true green believers such as [...]

Maine Gov takes aim at renewable energy standard

by Amy Oliver | 7:46 am, November 8, 2011

Apparently Maine, not California (followed closely by Colorado), has the highest renewable energy standard in the country, and Governor Paul LePage wants to get rid of it. According to Gov. LePage, the 44 percent renewable energy requirement puts Maine at an economic disadvantage because it drives up the cost of energy in his state. Maine [...]

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• PPC Training for Activists

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