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Sun Power Stocks Sinking

Passed by a 43-21 vote by the Colorado House this week, HB 1164 requires the state Public Utilities Commission to "consider" the construction of large- scale solar plants, rather than coal or natural gas stations, to supply the state's future energy requirements. Whether the PUC can actually force big utilities like Xcel to change their supply plans the bill does not say.

Also unaddressed by the legislation is whether solar plants will be a wise business decision, as opposed to prudent public policy, in coming years. After enjoying a two-year run-up, solar company stocks have taken a beating in the recent market downturn.

In other energy news: CSU's "Clean Energy Supercluster" gets its first unveiling; mineral rights owners say new state regs on oil and gas won't damage the industry; and Xcel plans a pair of big new gas turbines.
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Changing The Rules

The "simmering battle" between Colorado state regulators and the oil and gas industry took a couple of strange turns this week as the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission got closer to publishing new draft rules for energy production Colorado – which industry officials have criticized in advance for giving too much authority to the Division of Wildlife.

"Tempers flared and text messages flew Wednesday as lawmakers tried to figure out if the state oil and gas commission was about to get the authority to override landowners' wishes," The Rocky Mountain News reports.

In other energy news: solar thermal plants take off in the deserts of the Southwest; Canadian regulators question the environmental effects of a huge oil-sands project; oil prices reach "unimaginable" levels.
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Symbolic Vote

The bill to eliminate $18 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas producers passed by the U.S. House this week is largely symbolic, since the measure faces opposition in the Senate and a likely president veto. But as symbolic gestures go, it's a fairly powerful one.

Passed by 236-182, with 17 Republicans voting in favors, would use the savings from rollback of tax break for big oil companies to finance incentives for renewable energy, including wind and solar power. Several existing tax credits for renewable-energy investments will expire at the end of this year, unless Congress extends them.

It's time to "stop the madness of subsidizing oil companies," said Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington.

In other energy news: University renewable-energy center plans big solar installation near DIA; Colorado House votes to require utilities to spend more on energy efficiency; new Oil and Gas Commission members narrowly pre-confirmed.
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Big Oil Steps Up

Gov. Bill Ritter's drive to make Colorado a center of renewable energy got a big boost from the private sector this week when ConocoPhillips said it's purchasing the former StorageTek campus in Louisville. Houston-based ConocoPhillips, the nation's No. 3 oil company, will use the 432-acre campus as an R&D center focusing on "renewable energy and high-tech carbon-fuels recovery," according to the Post.

"This will push the new energy economy for Colorado," said an ebullient Ritter in announcing the $55.6 million purchase.

In other energy news: Scientific American puts the cost of a fully renewable energy industry at $400 billion; big energy co.'s buy up land for shale-oil operations on the Western Slope; and legislators grapple with water issues surrounding in-situ leech mining of uranium.
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Death For Subsidies

In what ought to serve as a death-knell for corn-ethanol subsidies in the U.S., two studies from the new issue of the journal Science strongly indicate that the increased substitution of certain biofuels will actually exacerbate global climate change rather than slow it down.

While the researchers, from an array of independent institutions including Princeton University, Woods Hole Research Center, and Iowa State (smack in the heart of corn country), examined a variety of fuels, the chief culprit is clearly corn. Clearing land to grow additional corn stocks to make ethanol would release twice as much greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the next 30 years as just burning regular gasoline.

In other energy news: BLM releases environmental impact statement on oil-shale production in the Rockies; EPA orders Colorado to examine gas-well air pollution rise; and state legislature eyes overcharging by cities for solar-power permits. [more]

Monday Politics

The candidacy of Republican fundraiser Bruce Benson to become the president of the University of Colorado received another blow over the weekend when CU regent Cindy Carlisle announced she would no longer support him. A candidate for state Senate from Boulder, Carlisle had previously been the sole Democrat on the board of regents to come out in favor of Benson.

Late last week the CU faculty assembly postponed a vote on whether to support the proposed appointment of Benson, who has been an oil and gas CEO and is the former chairman of the Colorado Republican party. He is the sole finalist for the job of CU president. [more]

'An Absolute Crime'

Setting up a face-off with the White House, Sen. Ken Salazar said this week that along with two other members of the Colorado congressional delegation, he isi sponsoring a bill to restore the traditional 50-50 split between the states and the federal government of mineral leasing revenues on federal land.

The division was changed to 52-48 (in favor of the feds) in a little-noticed provision in the $555 billion appropriations bill signed by President Bush in December. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, whose state stands to lose dozens of millions in mineral royalties, has called the change "an absolute crime."

In other energy news: Colorado offers rebates for residential solar-power systems; huge new natural gas pipeline sends fuel east from the Front Range; and coal hits near-record production levels.
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Super Duper Tuesday

Tomorrow's caucuses in Colorado will apportion 55 delegates to the Democratic presidential candidates (46 to Republicans), and it's a bit of an irony that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton has spent significant time in the state that will host the Democratic National Convention next summer. In other ways, though, Colorado – which went 52 percent for George W. Bush in the last presidential election – "offers a microcosm of the national picture," as Laura Flanders, a political correspondent for the left-leaning Nation, puts it.
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In the Spring Issue and online here:

• Montana’s Cash Cowboy
• Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
• Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
• Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
• Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
• Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
• Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
• Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
• Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
• Revenge of the Resource Economy
• Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
• Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
• Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom

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By Robert Struckman, 2-01-08 | comments (22) | email story | print story

FutureGen's Future Cloudy

Since I detailed the gaps in Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer's ambitious plans for "clean" coal plants in his state last month, the whole clean-coal movement has suffered a major blow. This week the Department of Energy said it would cancel funding for the FutureGen project, which is planning a commercial-scale coal plant with a carbon sequestration system in Matoon, Illinois.

Citing the high cost and potential difficulty in building a futuristic coal plant of this size, the DOE says it will cut its clean-coal funding and shift the dollars to smaller projects.

To say this is a disaster for developing less-destructive forms of coal generation – which still supplies about half of the nation's electricity – is an understatement.

In other energy news: Xcel Energy sees whopping profit surge; lawmakers object to shift in federal minerals-leasing revenue; and Colorado officials fire back at oil and gas producers over proposed new drilling regulations. [more]

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