Building Energy Consensus in Colorado Colorado, Governors, Policy Issues

Reading this article made me go back to the idea of the vital center, which has been brought up a couple times on Western Democrat lately:

"I'm a true believer," Republican gubernatorial candidate Beauprez said of renewable energy.

Beauprez's campaign stop at the Sterling ethanol plant this month underscored just how big an issue energy has become.

With gasoline prices hovering around $3 a gallon and electric utilities struggling with brownouts, energy has become a local concern.

Both Beauprez and his Democratic opponent, Bill Ritter, are pushing plans aimed at putting the state in a position to be a leader in cutting-edge energy technology and re-energize rural Colorado, although neither sets specific implementation plans.

When we live in era where the GOP and Dems alike are on similar pages with renewable energy in the west, maybe we can move past the partisan bickering. If we had two parties both understanding the potential economic, social and resource benefits from renewable energy investment we, as a nation and region, could stand as a testament to progressive and pragmatic progress.

But, as always, the GOP rhetoric may not match up with their actions:

Ritter has criticized Beauprez's congressional vote that cut more than $20 million from the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Beauprez blamed the cuts on U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's move to earmark $34 million in energy funds for his home state of Nevada.

The NREL funds were eventually restored by the Bush administration.

"It's another classic both- ways-Bob moment ... to talk about renewable energy in light of his support of the NREL cuts. He has no credibility," said Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer.

Beauprez responded, "I'd say that's (expletive), if I can be that blunt."

Well, I guess that struck one of Bob's nerves. There are a thousand reasons to not support Beauprez and he probably isn't seriously credible on the issue of energy, but to remain competitive Beauprez has got to talk the talk on renewable energy.

For instance, lets compare the candidates plans:

Beuprez:

During his northeastern Colorado campaign swing, Beauprez unveiled a renewable-energy policy focusing on agricultural land, biomass, ethanol and wind energy.

At an Akron town meeting, Beauprez told ranchers and farmers: "I believe we need to continue to encourage more ethanol and biodiesel usage and production right here in our state."

Beauprez's plan would triple the number of pumps dispensing the ethanol-gasoline blend E85 to about 30. The plan also calls for building more transmission lines to increase access to wind power and invest in commercialization of biomass fuels.

Beauprez is also proposing creation of a "state utility database" to identify areas to reduce energy usage and use private money to promote residential energy efficiency.

The plan also would use tax credits to encourage companies to find market uses for the research done by the state's colleges, universities and NREL.

Ritter:

Ritter's plan includes increasing ethanol production and wind and biodiesel energy and creating "new markets specifically for farmers by selling their crops so that they can then be used for biofuels," Dreyer said...

The plan would "establish statewide standards to create and expand markets for renewable-energy products."

State buildings would have to meet "stringent energy- efficient standards," according to Ritter's energy position paper.

Now, in debate, sometimes a opposition team would propose a counterplan to the original plan proposed by the affirmative. The test of competition was often mutual exclusivity. That's pretty much a fancy phrase for saying "Can both be done at the same time?"

The straight-forward answer: YES. If we've come to a point where both candidates in a race have detailed, multi-page reports on their websites (Check it: Ritter and Beuprez) regarding renewable energy in their state and their ideas are not in direct confrontation then we have made great strides in our collective progress as a people.

As a proud Western Democrat, I'm excited for Bill Ritter to be the next Governor of Colorado. But since his Republican opposition campaigned strongly on a renewable energy platform similar to his, I know that'll make it that much easier for progress to occur in the Colorado General Assembly and Senate or with the voters.

Building general consensus is what we do out here and when we work together for a cleaner, opportunity-based energy economy then we'll all be better off out west. Then we'll wait for the rest of the nation to keep up.

Landon Mascareñaz | August 25, 2006 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) Permalink: Building Energy Consensus in Colorado Colorado, Governors, Policy Issues

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