Panelists disagree on government?s role

BOULDER – A panel of four was split on the topic of whether or not government has gone too far passing laws, regulations and codes related to green building, conservation and alternative energy.

Boulder businessman Bob Greenlee and Sheila Horton, executive director of the Boulder Area Rental Housing Association, took the “too far” stance, and Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor and Pam Kiely, program director for Environment Colorado Research and Policy Center, took the “not far enough” stance.

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The panel discussion took place during lunch June 15 of the Boulder County Business Report’s Green Summit at the Millennium Harvest House Boulder.

Horton said the city of Boulder’s new law requiring property owners of rental properties to retrofit their buildings to meet energy-use requirements is “costly, absurd and unprecedented.

“I can understand codes and regs for new homes and people who want to do a remodel. (Referring to Boulder County’s SmartRegs.) Those regs are in place, and it’s up to the individual to decide whether to build or remodel or not. But this is a different approach. This is breaking a covenant the city had with the owner at the time the building was built. We don’t have a choice. We (landlords) feel put upon, singled out.”

Greenlee, president of Centennial Investment & Management Co. Inc. and former Boulder mayor, believes the goal of increasing conservation and reducing energy use is achievable and worthwhile, but he doesn’t want government taking punitive action to get there.

“Use incentives, education, don’t punish,” he said. “We don’t need a nanny government telling us we are over consuming,” he said.

Toor said the places that get clean energy right will be the ones that survive.

“If we don’t get it right, we are likely to see China as an economic power,” he said. Toor believes when new regs are put in place the market will be able to respond with innovations to accommodate them. “The appropriate regulations, the right mix, will unleash the power of innovation,” he said.

He pointed out Boulder County made changes to recent green regulations after hearing opposition from residential homebuilders and owners. “We didn’t get it quite right. We made two rounds of changes.”

Toor drew a round of applause when he said there needs to be a carbon tax, and that there must be investment in clean-energy research and development.

Kiely believes the country and the world is at a crossroads with energy.

“We can keep going down the same old dirty path or chart a new course with clean energy,” she said.

“We can move forward with government leading the way. But partnerships with business must take place.”