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Colorado Climate Action Panel Releases a Series of Recommendations
for Energy Policy
October 18, 2007
The Colorado Climate Change Action Panel released
a series of recommendations on September 15 regarding how the state
can do its part to address climate change. The panel was a voluntary
effort involving more than 100 civic and business leaders, including
several mayors: John Hickenlooper (Denver), Doug Hutchinson (Fort
Collins), and Steve Burkholder (Lakewood).
Altogether the panel made 70 recommendations that
it estimates will reduce overall emissions of greenhouse gases in
Colorado by 20% by 2020. Chief among these recommendations are
stronger energy efficiency programs. The panel estimates savings for
businesses and consumers from this plan at $2.6 billion.
The panel has presented its findings to Colorado
Governor Bill Ritter and is expected to pressure the Colorado
Legislature to support some of the recommendations in 2008,
including:
- Set specific emissions reduction goals for
Colorado.
- Increase the Colorado renewable energy
requirement to 30%.
- Beef up demand-side management programs to
reduce energy consumption.
- Adopt the California motor vehicle emissions
standards for new cars and trucks.
- Expand recycling and composting programs to
reduce methane emissions from landfills.
The panel is unique among the 30 states and U.S.
territories (including Puerto Rico) that have submitted climate
action plans to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because the
Colorado effort comes from a constituency-based nonprofit
organization instead of a state government.
As CRES members heard at the 2007 Colorado
Renewable Energy Conference in Steamboat Springs in June, the
Colorado ski industry is treating the looming effects of climate
change very seriously. At the conference, Vail Environmental
Coordinator Luke Cartin explained that climate change threatens to
shorten Colorado ski seasons over the coming decades and disrupt the
industry's cost structure. Cartin said that today’s ski industry
depends on a long ski season for healthy profits. This is because a
lot of the costs of operating ski resorts are fixed in nature, and
longer seasons lead to more visitors and increased revenues.
For details about the action panel report, see an
article written and distributed on October 10 by the Associated
Press and published online by CBS-4 News titled "Colorado Climate
Change Panel Announces Recommendations."
http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_283121500.html
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