Economic Development Policy
New West Energy Grok
Western States Pledge Emission CutsAs promised, the six Western states and two Canadian provinces that make up the Western Climate Initiative have made public their greenhouse-gas reduction goals. The state and provincial governments say they will reduce their aggregate carbon emissions by 15 percent below the 2005 levels by 2020. Like last year's landmark carbon-reduction legislation passed by California, the Western Climate Initiative goal represents frustration on the part of state and local leaders at inaction on climate change in Washington, D.C.
Created six months ago by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, and joined since then by Utah and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia, the Climate Initiative says its goals will not replace but augment greenhouse gas-reduction efforts in the individual states. officials say achieving its goal could cut 350 million metric tons of carbon dioxide A 15-percent total reduction would eliminate some 350 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- roughly equivalent to taking 75.6 million cars off the road.
The question now is , why haven't Colorado and Montana pitched in?
In other energy news: Colorado is ground zero for the new uranium mining boom; state auditors say mining tax distribution is out of whack; and chipmaker Intel moves into the solar business.
[more]
Monday Business Roundup
Local Moviegoers Await Theater OpeningFor years analysts have considered the movie-theater business overbuilt, as evidenced by the closing of cineplexes across the West that were built in the small-box cinema boom of the 1980s. Try telling that to Boulder residents, though, who have exactly one aging four-screen theater in a town of more than 100,000 and who have been forced to drive south to the Colony Square and Flatirons megaplexes to get a decent choice of new releases.
That will change, finally, in August when the 16-screen movie theater at Boulder's Twenty Ninth Street mall will light up after multiple delays, nearly a year after its original scheduled opening.
The theater was delayed by a change of ownership, when Century Theatres was bought out by Cinemark USA Inc. As it happens, Cinemark USA is one of the parterns in Centennial-based National CineMedia, a digital theater-ads company that beams pre-movie programming via satellite to around 12,000 theaters nationwide. While benefiting from new-theater construction, National CineMedia is also moving into a new line of business: digital programming for health clubs.
In other business news: Denver law firm sinks in personal-injury morass; anti-smoking-ban group broadcasts gloomy and dubious figures; and casino towns get rich off billions in bets.
[more]
New West Energy Grok
Seeking the Solar-Tech RevolutionWith the sun blazing and temperatures in northern Colorado stretching into the 90s for weeks on end, it's not hard to imagine that solar power could provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels for a sizable fraction of the West's energy demands. But that's still a long way from reality, according to New York Times reporters Andrew Revkin and Matthew Wald. "Moving this energy source from niche to mainstream — last year it provided less than 0.01 percent of the country’s electricity supply — is unlikely without significant technological breakthroughs," the pair reported this week.
Fortunately those breakthroughs are starting to accelerate. This week researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology unveiled a design for inexpensive solar cells that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets.
At the same time scientists are devising new ways to make electricity not just from sunshine but from the sun's heat, using "solar thermal" systems that capture heat to make water boil and use the steam to turn a turbine just as in a coal-burning steam engine.
In other energy news: a Texas energy company decamps without cleaning up its mess; Gov. Ritter wins enemies and dis-influences the pro-energy residents of the Western Slope; and wind farms power increases in land values in the Arkansas River Valley.
[more]
Monday Business Roundup
The Dying-Industry DigestPlenty of news from the business world today, so I will forego the longer piece of analysis that usually leads off this weekly feature for some more bite-sized business briefs. Happy snacking!
-- Local micro-brewers are seldom considered polluters on the scale of, say, multinational petroleum companies, but New Belgium Brewing Co., of Fort Collins, had sufficient raised the ire of Eric Sutherland, an environmentalist and former employee, that Sutherland had resorted to what a judge considered harassment and stalking. A critic of New Belgium's use of non-returnable bottles for its product, Sutherland has been barred from coming within 15 feet of New Belgium's facilities or its personnel.
-- Hoping to find that special bottle of MD 20-20, Night Train, or Steel Reserve for your next dinner party? Good luck.
[more]
From our affiliate SunValleyOnline
Sun Valley Wi-Fi From Allen & CoThe City of Ketchum, with a grant from Allen & Company, will move forward with plans to launch an outdoor municipal Wi-Fi project to provide free broadband Internet access in the Ketchum commercial core. The city is announcing this coinciding with the annual Sun Valley event, bringing in leaders from throughout the business world.
The project, which is expected to be owned and operated by “Wood River Community Wi-Fi”, a to-be-established nonprofit entity, will allow those people living in and visiting Ketchum - whether for a week or an afternoon - to stay connected while enjoying our quality of life. The wireless network will also be a benefit to local economic development practices.
[more]
Future of the Yampa Valley
Steamboat Wrestles With Prosperity
I'm headed up to Steamboat Springs tomorrow for what promises to be the first in a long series of 50th-birthday celebrations – since 50 is the new 40, the half-century mark is now celebrated by younger Baby Boomers as the passage to full adulthood rather than the gateway to middle age, it seems. The celebrant is Steven Wesley Dearborn, whose nickname in high school was "Yondu the Mountain Boy," which pretty much tells you all you need to know about what kind of weekend it's going to be.
I make it up to Steamboat a couple of times a year, and my preparations for this trip got me wondering: what's the future of the Yampa River Valley?
[more]
New West Energy Grok
Oil-Shale Delayed in D.C.The controversy over drilling for oil on Bureau of Land Management property in the West got hotter, and more complicated, this week as the U.S. House passed an amendment that would bar the BLM from issuing commercial oil shale leases in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Sponsored by Mark Udall of Colorado, the amendment to the 2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill prohibits the BLM from using public money to publish regulations for its commercial shale oil program, and from conducting leasing for shale oil exploration and drilling.
That move came after Udall and Rep. John Salazar were turned back in their effort to delay or forestall drilling on the Roan Plateau, near Rifle in Western Colorado. Salazar and Udall released a statement blaming a "curiously timed and highly speculative" cost estimate that was added to their amendment to review Roan Plateau drilling for blocking the measure's package.
The Roan Plateau is part of the Piceance Basin, which is thought to contain large amounts of hard-to-recover oil trapped in shale.
In other energy news: Federal agencies launch study of geothermal power; wind energy in the U.S. catches investment breeze; and Tyson plans to turn chicken fat into biodiesel.
[more]
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND USE GROK
Idaho to Sell Lands to Protect OthersIdaho is aiming to protect ranchland and wild lands with a new land trust, but to fund it, the state wants to auction off more than 30 pieces of land, including some historic ranches within wilderness. State officials say the sales would probably go to federal land agencies, not wealthy landowners looking for a trophy ranch. Still, environmentalists are skeptical.
"The last things we want to see is more no trespassing signs on our favorite fishing holes," John Robison, of the Idaho Conservation League, told the Associated Press.
The Department of Fish and Game drafted a list of over 30 "surplus properties" to sell off to build an endowment for the trust, including several in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Ranches range from a fraction of an acre to 20,000 acres in the Panhanlde National Forest. In return, the state hopes to protect key ranches and forest land. It's planning a round of workshops starting in July for residents to identify spots they'd like to see protected.
Also in Grok: Open space in Missoula; monster homes in Boulder; ultra-modern or ultra-ugly in Edwards, Colo.?
[more]
Renewable Power Subsidies
Energy Winds Shift in D.C.
Energy producers across the West are watching events in Washington D.C. today as the Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would reverse years of energy policy favorable to fossil fuels in an effort to boost the nation's renewable-energy capacity. Democrats are attempting to shift about $14 billion in incentives, tax breaks, and other subsidies from the oil industry to green fuels – an effort that has already been endorsed the top Republican on the Finance Committee, Charles Grassley of Iowa, a state whose corn farmers would benefit from a boost to the ethanol industry.
Provisions in the Senate bill include $1.5 billion in tax-free bonds for advanced coal-fired electricity plants, $332 million in tax credits for plants that make diesel fuel from coal, and $5.6 billion in tax credits for wind and geothermal electricity companies. Passage of the bill, which could well be vetoed by President Bush, would mark the biggest shift in U.S. energy policy since World War II.
[more]
Monday Business Roundup
Boulder Joins Wireless Gold RushBoulder has joined a group of 10 neighboring cities that are planning a new municipal wireless network that would blanket an area of roughly 137 square miles with WiFi coverage. Last week the City Council agreed to join with Colorado Wireless Communities – a consortium that includes Golden, Superior, Louisville and six other cities in Jefferson and Boulder counties – to negotiate with a vendor to build a WiFi network.
The surrounding cities thus join a nationwide trend that has seen cities from Seattle to St. Cloud, Fla. jump into the muni WiFi market – a market that relies on inflated coverage promises, dubious business models, and questionable economic benefits. A growing number of publications including Forbes, Business Week, and InformationWeek have questioned the muni-WiFi charge, noting that several cities have already had to nearly double the number of radio-frequency transceivers or WiFi access points to achieve the promised 95-percent coverage, and two of the leading providers of municipal wireless networks, EarthLink and MetroFi, have both said they are reviewing their business models and will stop offering free, ad-supported networks. The Colorado Wireless project is looking at two proposals, from vendors that have not yet been named.
In other business news: as tourism booms, Denver launches a new campaign aimed at 2008 Democratic convention-goers; and downtown office space in Denver enjoys a short-lived boom.
[more]
