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RITTER: New Energy Economy creating a wealth of opportunities

By Gov. Bill Ritter Jr.

Published August 23, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Whether this is your first or 50th visit to colorful Colorado, I'd like to welcome all of the delegates, guests, friends and family here for the Democratic National Convention to our wonderful state.

The last time we hosted the convention was 100 years ago, and Denver's skyline has changed at least a little bit since then. But one thing remains constant: This remains the best state in America to live, work and play. While the convention and related activities will undoubtedly keep you busy, I hope you find time to enjoy the rest of Colorado.

What you'll find is a Colorado at the crossroads of Old West and New West. We cherish our wide-open mountain vistas, our farms and ranches, and our rugged individualism meshed with a love of community. We celebrate our history and take pride in our Western roots.

We like to tell visitors that Colorado is one of the sunniest states in the country, with more than 300 days of brilliant sunshine a year. But it's more than just a tourism selling point - it's at the heart of Colorado's New Energy Economy.

We are attracting new companies, adding new jobs and creating new economic opportunities in every corner of Colorado as we become a global leader in renewable energy. New companies from places like Denmark and Spain are opening major facilities in Colorado. Startup businesses are spinning off from our research hubs, and existing companies are expanding.

We are marrying our traditional energy resources - including our vast supplies of natural gas - with alternative sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. Last year alone, we quadrupled the amount of wind power on our electric grid, providing enough new and clean electricity for 250,000 homes.

Colorado is guiding America toward a more secure and a more diverse energy future thanks to research giants like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden and the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory. The New Energy Economy, along with our overall business-friendly climate, is a key reason that Colorado is considered one of the best states in America to do business.

The New Energy Economy also is just one example of how Colorado and the New West are leading America and creating opportunities out of today's challenges. We are making similar advances in aerospace, bioscience and other knowledge-based industries of the future.

Colorado's tech sector was recently ranked No. 3 in the country thanks to our high concentration of tech workers, scientists and college-educated residents. We're home to the second-highest percentage of residents with college degrees in the United States.

We also boast the second-highest number of aerospace workers in the country, thanks in part to companies like Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance and many of the defense contractors that do work with our myriad military installations. Colorado is a foundation for our national security and home to six major military installations. More than 50,000 military personnel and their families live and work in Colorado.

Our bioscience and medical research community also is thrivingin places like Aurora, Boulder and Fort Collins, with new discoveries, new hope and new possibilities emerging almost daily.

There is much to discover about Colorado - from Pikes Peak and the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, to the awe-inspiring American Indian cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, to the high alpine meadows of Rocky Mountain National Park.

We are an energetic, optimistic and forward-thinking state that embraces our Western heritage as we overcome obstacles and constantly look for new hope and new possibilities.

Colorado - like all of America - is most assuredly a land of opportunity. I encourage you to experience as much of it as possible.

Bill Ritter is Colorado's 41st governor.

Comments

  • August 23, 2008

    6:31 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mike_In_Hartsel writes:

    The New Energy Economy = Higher Taxes

    The New Energy Economy = Higher Costs For Energy

    The New Energy Economy = Economic Disaster

  • August 23, 2008

    6:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    greenleaf writes:

    Govenor Ritter,

    Your policies for renewable energy are transforming our state. You have provided a bridge between our traditional extraction industries and the renewable energy future. This is necessary for Colorado to maintain both a healthy economy and still be a beautiful place to live.

    Many challenges remain, but this is good start. Thank you!

  • August 23, 2008

    6:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    greenleaf writes:

    Mike,

    The New Energy Economy = High paying jobs in rural areas.

    The New Energy Economy = Clean renewable energy.

    The New Energy Economy = Economic opportunities.

    The New Energy Economy = new ideas whose time has come.

  • August 23, 2008

    8:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mmannino writes:

    The new energy economy is central planning.

    The new energy economy is non economically viable energy production.

    The new energy economy is an unholy alliance between Democrat politicians, selected businesses, and unions.

    The new energy economy, if enacted nationally, will lead to much higher energy prices, energy shortages (conservation), and economic stagnation.

    The new energy economy creates jobs at a great cost: the cost of mandates and subsidies across the entire economy for non economically viable energy solutions.

    The new energy economy will lead to boondoggles like corn-based ethanol, the poster child for terrible energy policy.

    The new energy economy is a blockade on development and usage of traditional energy sources. The Democratic Oil Blockade is creating an artificial shortage of a vital resource to purposely increase prices and drive development of favored energy sources. The Democratic Oil Blockade is creating havoc in the travel, transportation, and manufacturing industries.

  • August 23, 2008

    9:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    greenleaf writes:

    mmannino,

    We have to break out of this simplistic soundbite format that Mike started, it doesn't further the debate.

    Increasingly, I am going to be saying this to conservative posters. If it is the will of the people, it will be done. We have imposed the mandates in Colorado upon ourselves through a vote of the people. Other times voters have voted down causes such as the anti-sprawl amendment some years back in which I was heavily invested. I felt it was a mistake and I pouted about it for some time. There comes a time to stop whining and to just get over it. If you really believe it is wrong, work toward getting a counter measure on the ballot.

    It isn't just Colorado, mmannino, it is much of the country and much of the developed world ( I just visited Germany and it is full of solar panels, CFLS and wind turbines). The people of the world increasingly see problems with the old energy paradigm of the extraction and burning of resources. Many of us are growing tired of the conflicts, pollution and other challenges brought by burning fossil fuels. I doubt that you believe in global warming. While I respect that, you need to understand, if not respect, that many millions of the world's people and governments don't share your opinion. They are actively moving ahead toward renewable energy, which, by the way, is becoming rapidly more cost effective . Economies of mass and improvements to the technology are bringing renewables to the point that they are becoming competitive with traditional energy sources. Colorado is taking full advantage of this shift toward renewables and high paying jobs by the thousand are coming to the state. Vestas has expanded our manufacturing base and the wind turbines they build will provide jobs in rural areas in Colorado and around the entire nation.

    We are in the midst of an energy revolution. As with all such shifts in technology and culture, there will be resistance and upset, winners and losers. Such is the mark of rapid change anytime it has occurred in human history. Ultimately, it sorts itself out and we continue to move forward.

  • August 23, 2008

    11:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mmannino writes:

    Greenleaf,

    The American left is alone in its oil blockade. You have it backwards. The rest of the world understands that oil is a vital resource. Every other country develops conventional resources if available. We are alone in refusing to develop our abundant resources.

    The Democratic Oil Blockade is an immoral policy designed to create an artificial shortage of a vital resource. The devastion to the travel, transportation, and manufacturing industries is heart breaking. The rise in consumer prices will have a lasting impact on our economy.

  • August 23, 2008

    12:22 p.m.

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    greenleaf writes:

    mmannino,

    I agree that you are probably right that: "Every other country develops conventional resources if available." I used the example of Germany, which,I believe, still has coal but that never had oil resources of its own. I know that England is rapidly embracing alternatives and efficiencies, but that exploited its North Sea oil fields as well.

    I am an independent and liberal on some issues but conservative on others. I have to say that on this issue I am decidedly liberal. I am not a Democrat however. As an independent, I can't speak to this "blockade" that you speak of but I am inclined toward offence at your implication that I might be immoral for what I consider to be a highly principled stance on my part. I am not advocating an end to fossil fuel extraction or the exclusion of nuclear energy for that matter. I believe it is in the best interest of our country to both embrace efficiency ( that's the fiscal conservative in me talking) and to embrace , develop and market the new renewable technologies that are in increasing demand around the world. Failure to be a part of this trend will leave us at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the world.

    As for oil? The resource that once used to bubble to the surface in parts of our country and be "extracted' using buckets must now be taken from increasingly greater depths and from under oceans and some of the few remaining pristine areas on the planet. We are even considering using vast quantities of other fossil fuels to cook it out of rock strata . The age of cheap oil is gone and its time to consider alternatives. Its called enlightened self interest.

  • August 23, 2008

    4:15 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mmannino writes:

    greenleaf,

    I agree that the age of cheap oil is gone. However, the price of oil still makes extraction possible. The US has strict regulations about oil extraction. There are few reported problems with oil extraction. The problems mainly involve oil delivery in tankers.

    You comments seem reasonable except that you seem to advocate severe restrictions on oil and natural gas extraction. The market can make these decisions better than you or me. If oil is too expensive to extract, private investors will not risk investment. I am not sure why you advocate stopping private investors from risking capital on energy projects. No one is asking for mandates and subsidies. In contrast, mandates are subsidies are demanded in the renewable industries.

    The Democratic Oil Blockade is preventing energy extraction. I consider it an immoral policy because the stated purpose of the policy is to create an artificial shortage of a vital resource. I am not indicating that you are immoral. The strong advocates of the blockade have delusions of a world without oil.

  • August 23, 2008

    6:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    gary writes:

    Ritter...a wealth of opportunities...yes..

    Let the State take away 300 million tax breaks for oil.

    Then he can spend the 300 million.

    Then the oil companies can pass the cost onto us the consumer.

    A new tax increase for Colorado to spend without going through TABOR.

    We will all pay for it if it passes.

    Nuff Said!

  • August 26, 2008

    9:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    fatheromalley writes:

    Reference this 300 million in tax breaks.. please..
    Why have "tax breaks". .isn't this taxes on income? Why even have taxes on income, savings, and investments? Why place an overhead on success? Why not place the overhead on the sales of New Retail Goods and Services.. allow all used goods including homes and cars go completely untaxed at the federal level and collect just as much revenue..

    Go Green, tax new product consumption. .

    We use oil for many other products than just gasoline.. 30% of it's usage is non gasoline related now, including carbon fiber products that are stronger and lighter than steel...

    We needn't burn oil to use it.. there would be no argument amongst us if windmill farms and solar panel farms were used to supply the electricity for harvesting Hydrogen from water..

    We needn't file "environmental" suits against drilling...

    When you burn hydrogen you get water back! When you burn any carbon (gas, diesal, jet fuel, ethanol, natural gas) you burn carbon. Why? Because monopolies were formed. Everyone has water.. we have oceans of the stuff that nobody owns. There would be no more wars over oil..

    Not to worry, we can always find something else to fight about...

    www.fatheromalley.com

    Love to all,
    Father O'Malley