Obama’s Clean Power Plan gets mixed response from Colorado energy sector

Advocates for the renewable-energy industry in Colorado cheered the White House’s release of the final version of a plan to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants on Monday, while representatives of utilities and the oil-and-gas industry took a wait-and-see stance.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which largely targets coal-fired plants, would require an overall reduction in carbon emissions of 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 — a slightly higher restriction than the EPA proposed last year.

“Implementing clean energy is familiar ground for Xcel Energy,” Colorado’s largest utility, said Ben Fowke, the chairman, president and chief executive of the Minnesota-based company, in a media statement. “We have worked for years with our states to increase the use of renewable resources, to help customers save energy and to modernize and retire our coal plants — all at a reasonable cost. This approach has put our company on a sound course to achieve a 30 percent reduction in carbon dioxide by 2020.

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“We appreciate the EPA’s willingness to work with stakeholders in developing this groundbreaking and complex set of regulations. It will take time to thoroughly review and assess the full impact of the rules. While we expect the Clean Power Plan does not provide everything we hoped for in terms of fully recognizing the early actions of proactive states and utilities, Xcel Energy is ready to move ahead. We look forward to working with our states in the best interest of our customers, ensuring we continue to meet their expectations for clean, reliable and affordable power.”

Fowke attended the ceremony at the White House at which President Obama announced the final draft of the Clean Power Plan.

Following Colorado lawmakers’ passage of legislation in 2010 that set standards for conversion to renewable energy, Xcel announced that it planned to reduce its carbon emissions by more than a fourth. The utility is to retire its coal-fired Valmont plant in Boulder by 2017.

Chris Brown, president of Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc., which has wind-turbine plants in Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo, said “the Clean Power Plan is a significant step in the right direction.  It’s not something that will alter our market potential in the short run, but if the plan is adopted, it will create a more stable U.S. market for renewable energy in the long run.

“Additionally, the plan increases the chances for a global climate agreement in Paris,” he said. “The United States is the most significant player in the climate discussion, so when the U.S. takes the lead in this way, it creates both momentum as well as pressure on other countries to react.

“The Clean Power Plan is definitely achievable, and wind energy is the quickest and most cost effective way for states to meet the reductions. Wind is already helping states meet their clean energy needs and can do more while creating new jobs and benefitting local economies.  More wind can be integrated into the grid reliably; many states and regions are adding large quantities of wind to the electricity mix while maintaining grid stability.”

Forty-one businesses and investors with a significant presence in Colorado — including Boulder-based Namaste Solar and The North Face, the Fort Collins-based New Belgium and Odell breweries and Aspen Skiing Co. — on Friday issued a letter to Gov. John Hickenlooper offering strong support for the plan and encouraging the state’s “timely finalization” of its implementation plan. The letter was coordinated by Ceres, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for sustainable energy.

“Our support is firmly grounded in economic reality,” the letter said. “Clean-energy solutions are cost effective and innovative ways to drive investment and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Increasingly, businesses rely on renewable-energy and energy-efficiency solutions to cut costs and improve corporate performance.”

“Colorado’s clean-energy policy, such as the Renewable Energy Standard, has enabled New Belgium to take a leadership role in energy management in the energy-intensive brewing industry,” said Jenn Vervier, director of strategy and sustainability at New Belgium Brewing, in a media statement. “The Clean Power Plan presents an opportunity for the state to continue that leadership, and we support Gov. Hickenlooper’s efforts in working to develop a robust state implementation plan.”

Eagle County commissioner Jill Ryan, whose constituents include workers at the Vail resort, flagship property of Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN), warned that “ski resorts are already feeling the impacts of a warmer climate on the length and quality of ski seasons, and climate change could threaten their very existence. It doesn’t take much to undermine our tourism economy. Only a 1 percent dip in tourists to Colorado ski resorts would cost more than $375 million and 4,500 jobs.

Ryan said the Clean Power Plan “represents an opportunity for Colorado to craft a plan to continue its leadership in reducing carbon emissions. It is a necessary but flexible step to effectively address climate change and keep visitors from across the world coming to Colorado for world-class skiing.”

Tim Gaudette, Colorado outreach manager for San-Francisco-based nonprofit Small Business Majority, noted that “energy expenses can adversely impact small businesses’ bottom lines and cut into their profits. That’s why small employers want sound policies — like the Clean Power Plan — that transition the U.S. to a clean-energy economy so they can spend less on utility bills and have more cash available to invest in and expand their companies.”

Doug Flanders, policy director for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said Monday that the industry group had not yet responded to the plan “because we’re waiting to see how the state comes down on this.” The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is responsible for monitoring compliance with the national plan.

Officials at the Platte River Power Authority, which supplies electricity to Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland, were still reviewing the plan and were not yet ready to comment, said John Little, PRPA’s marketing and community relations manager. In the past two years, PRPA has begun adding renewable energy to its portfolio by investing in solar arrays and wind farms.