Ritter eyes California’s pollution laws

Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 15, 2007 at midnight

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California's present. And Colorado's future?

Clean cars: Carmakers must cut the tailpipe emissions of all the cars they sell by 30 percent by 2016, or pay hefty fines.

Renewable energy: Utilities must get at least 20 percent of their electricity from the sun, wind, and plant and animal waste by 2010.

Energy savings: Homeowners and businesses must drastically cut their energy use in order to reduce the need for new coal- or gas-fired power plants.

Those tough rules for Californians are being studied by the Gov. Bill Ritter's administration as it crafts a policy for Colorado to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a known contributor to global warming.

"California has been a trendsetter, whether good or bad ... they have an ambitious goal and they are working hard to achieve the goal," said James Martin, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

"They are a tremendous lesson to the rest of us. "We are taking a hard look at their goal."

Martin spoke Thursday at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association annual conference in the Colorado Convention Center.

The clean-car rules in California are causing a stink. Carmakers have sued the state, saying to comply with those rules, they will have to offer financial incentives to push customers to buy smaller cars and vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping pollutant.

Martin said state officials have met with power producers such as Xcel Energy and Tri-State, as well as non-government organizations, municipalities and communities for feedbacks as they cobble together Colorado's climate policies.

The state must anticipate what policies would be adopted by the U.S. Congress in the coming years so Colorado's policies would fit in, Martin said.

A draft recommendation will be presented to Ritter this fall.

"The bottom-line is, we are passionately committed to the issue and looking at a range of policy options," Martin said. "The Governor wants a completely open slate. He wants to discuss what makes sense for Colorado."

Running for office last year, Ritter had promised to take actions to curtail global warming. He and his staff seem intent on keeping that promise, Martin said.

For instance, soon after assuming office this year, Ritter appointed Heidi VanGenderen, a senior associate at the University of Colorado, as his climate adviser. In May, Colorado joined 30 other states by setting up a climate registry program that will allow companies, utilities and governments to report and measure their greenhouse gas emissions in a uniform way.

Meanwhile, Colorado's natural gas industry believes that the clean-burning energy source could play a vital role as states adopt stricter carbondioxide or greenhouse gas emission rules.

That's because unlike gas, wind and solar energy have large footprints and still cannot totally replace coal-fired power plants that run continuously and generate electricity at all times of the day.

"New gas-fired power is still far cheaper than new nuclear power and solar, and cheaper than wind on any meaningful scale," said Keith Rattie, chairman, president and CEO of Questar Corp. Thursday at the COGA conference. "When you do the math, the inescapable conclusion is that greater use of natural gas has to be a part of any climate-friendly policy."

chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2976

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