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Governor Taps CRES Member to Head
Public Utilities Commission
January 25, 2007
Newly elected Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has moved
quickly to fill vacancies in key energy posts. Ritter has tapped
CRES member Ron Binz to head the Colorado Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) and Tom Plant to head the Colorado Governor's
Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC). Both men played
key roles in the passing of Amendment 37 in 2004.
Binz is a member of the Colorado Renewable Energy
Society and was the founding director of the Colorado Office of
Consumer Counsel in the mid-1980s. He has written three
renewable-energy cost studies, including one important study about
the cost of Amendment 37 that he presented at a CRES public meeting
in the fall of 2004. See the Binz report on his website at:
http://www.rbinz.com/RES.htm
Binz has a reputation as a strong supporter of
renewable energy and as someone who listens well to different
perspectives. For details about the appointment, see the governor’s
January 23 press release:
http://www.colorado.gov/governor/press/january07/ron-binz.html
Earlier in the month, Ritter selected Tom Plant to
head the Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC).
Plant directs the Center for ReSource Conservation in Boulder, and a
member of the Colorado Legislature for eight years representing the
district that includes Nederland. Plant was the author of the
Colorado Renewable Energy Act in 2004 that called for a renewable
energy requirement and that passed both houses of the Legislature.
This effort was credited with helping form the political coalition
that helped pass Amendment 37 in 2004. For details about the
appointment, see the governor’s January 1 press release:
http://www.colorado.gov/governor/press/january07/zavaras-plant.html |
