As a state we have an obligation to encourage the responsible development of cheap energy sources, while exercising proper stewardship of our environment.
Colorado has no shortage of options to add to our energy portfolio. We have an abundance of clean-burning natural gas, including shale gas; we have clean coal; we have sunlight for solar and prime wind farm locations; and we’re an ideal location for nuclear power that President Obama and an increasing number of environmental groups promote as a clean source of base load electricity.
- Encourage Power Companies to Locate Nucelar Plants Here
Nuclear power is safe, abundant, clean, and low-carbon. Any transition away from oil for transporation will rely on electricity, and the best way to generate the large amounts of electricity required to charge all those car batteries is with nuclear power. Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel reduces waste by over 90%, and has allowed France to safely generate over 80% of its electricity through nuclear. Nuclear plants are capital intensive, but less expensive to operate on a per-unit-of-energy-produced basis. Encouraging the use of nuclear, rather than expensive boutique forms of energy generation, can help hasten the transition to electric transportation, and allow us to bypass the limits we’re placing on electricity production.
- Subsidize Solar and Wind Research Instead of Consumption
The failures of high-profile solar installation and wind production facilities show that despite being subsidized at over 10 times the rate of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear, solar and wind are not yet economically competitive sources of large-scale electricity production. We can also benefit from the experience of European countries, where Germany is cutting its solar subsidies, and Spain is admitting that so-called “green jobs” have heavily contributed to its economic malaise.
We should take advantage of being the home of NREL to subsidize further research, confident that business and consumers will snap up cost-competitive electricity from any source, instead of subsidizing solar panels and wind farms directly.
We should encourage localities willing to host nuclear power plants to come forward, in anticipation of a nuclear building boom like that taking place across China.
- Stop Making Existing Sources More Expensive
As I talk to business owners around my district, the one thing they complain most about is the new taxes levied on them during the latest legislative session, especially the addition of a 2.9% sales tax on electricity used for industrial purposes. This tax has never before been levied in the history of Colorado state sales taxes.
In addition, 31 state representatives (including my opponent) and 12 state senators signed a letter urging Congress to pass a cap-and-trade bill, which would act as a ferocious new tax on American business, at a time when we can least afford it.
We should roll back the 2.9% tax on industrial electricity, and oppose any effort to impose a cap-and-trade tax on business, and encourage, rather than discourage, the safe, clean extraction of ridiculously cheap natural gas on our Western Slope. Our focus should be on helping business to lower costs and create jobs, not stifle job growth through artificially inflating energy costs.
- Encourage Conservation By Consumers
At a time when jobs are scarce and incomes are stagnant, consumers will reduce their energy consumption, if given the proper information to do so. Mileage feedback systems in cars are but one example. One of the most popular items on loan at the Denver Public Library is a gadget that lets you monitor a single appliance’s electricity use.
The legislature passed a bill that would encourage the creation of Smart Grid Technology, but current technology is riddled with privacy issues. Moreover, the ability to adjust energy use remotely rests not with the individual consumers who know they needs, but with the electric utilities or local governments.
We should encourage the creation of smart-grid technology that permits individuals to monitor and regulate their own energy usage, which could lead to considerable energy efficiencies.
Colorado has the potential to be a model for a diverse, economically efficient, environmentally responsible energy portfolio for the rest of the country. Let’s do everything we can to make that happen.
