COLORADO ROADMAP: ENERGY SECURING COLORADO S CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE MAY 2018 PAID FOR BY LYNNE FOR COLORADO.
CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...3 BACKGROUND...4 ACCOMPLISHMENTS...5 POLICY PRIORITIES...6 Take steps to strengthen the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC)...6 Create incentives for and make investments in new energy technology and infrastructure development to expand energy storage and transmission for power from renewable sources... 7 Leverage our waste, water and forest resources through innovation and investment in biodigestion to create biogas for energy... 7 Advance an aggressive clean transportation agenda... 8 LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As someone who holds a PhD in Public Health, has a background in the business sector and has worked with the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, Public Utilities Commission and other state agencies responsible for policy and regulation related to public health and natural resources, I bring unique perspective, experience and insight when it comes to the issue of how to best shape Colorado s energy future. I am committed to finding pragmatic solutions that protect public health and safety today while accelerating our transition to a clean energy future. What I Believe We must accelerate the transition to a lower-carbon and ultimately a carbon-free future through pragmatic policies that support continued evolution through thoughtful policy change. Colorado s strengths in innovation and technology should be leveraged to advance clean energy production. Protecting public health and safety is the highest priority in regulating energy production. Energy policy and regulatory frameworks must seek to balance economic, environmental and social imperatives. We must foster collaborative, dynamic relationships between state and local governments to craft policies that acknowledge the very real differences in communities across Colorado. Arbitrary state-wide set back rules ignore the importance of taking a thoughtful, locally-informed approach. What I Will Do Take steps to strengthen the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). Create incentives for and make investments in new energy technology and infrastructure development to expand energy storage and transmission for power from renewable sources. Leverage our waste, water and forest resources through innovation and investment in biodigestion to create biogas for energy. Advance an aggressive clean transportation agenda. LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 3
BACKGROUND Energy is a necessity for modern living and an important part of Colorado s history and economy. We all depend on affordable, reliable, safe and increasingly clean energy production to heat our homes, light our communities and power our transportation system. Colorado has helped to lead the country in a responsible progression from wood to coal to oil and gas to renewable sources of energy. It is part of our heritage. Over the last 15 years, Colorado has been a leader in defining and embracing the new energy economy. Starting in 2004 when Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to adopt the first state-level renewable energy standard, which has been increased three times since 2004, we have built and grown this movement. Today, Colorado is consistently ranked in the top five states for clean energy jobs with more than 60,000 jobs in the sector. We should be proud of Colorado s role as a leader in the energy sector and built upon it with pragmatic, actionable and specific policy initiatives, not political platitudes built only on aspirational, but unrealistic, goals. There have been significant developments over the last eight years that have changed the nature of the public debate on this issue. First, has been the significant growth of drilling in higher density communities along the Front Range, which has raised new questions and challenges, particularly about public health and safety. Second has been the rise of horizontal drilling, which impacts the considerations for regulation. Third, advances in technology have dramatically reduced the cost of wind and solar and allowed for significant growth in renewables. Finally, implementation of benchmark clean transportation programs have helped to deploy electric cars and natural gas trucks and buses, which along with modernized charging and fueling infrastructure, have spurred progress in the clean transportation realm. The Hickenlooper administration has worked thoughtfully to adapt Colorado s regulatory framework and policies to reflect these changing realities. As Governor, I will continue to be flexible and adaptable to new realities, help to create and embrace new technologies and push for faster adoption in order to achieve a thoughtful evolution to a comprehensive clean energy economy. As someone who holds a PhD in Public Health, has a background in the business sector and has worked with the CO Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, Public Utilities Commission and other state agencies responsible for public health and natural resources, I bring unique perspective, experience and insight when it comes to the issue of how to best shape Colorado s energy future. I am committed to finding pragmatic solutions that protect public health and safety today while accelerating our transition to a clean energy future. Guiding Values: We must accelerate the transition to a lower-carbon and, eventually, a carbonfree future through pragmatic policies that support continued evolution through thoughtful policy change. Colorado s strengths in innovation and technology should be embraced and leveraged to advance clean energy production through solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectric and geothermal sources. LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 4
Protecting public health and safety is the highest priority in regulating energy production, particularly in densely populated communities. Energy policy and regulatory frameworks must seek to balance economic, environmental and social imperatives. Colorado has been a national leader in finding that balance and we will continue on that path. We must foster collaborative, dynamic relationships between state and local governments to craft policies that acknowledge the very real differences in communities across Colorado. Arbitrary state-wide set back rules ignore the importance of taking a thoughtful, locally-informed approach. ACCOMPLISHMENTS The Hickenlooper administration has set a national example for policies and regulations to ensure the safe development of traditional sources of energy while aggressively pursuing new sources. Developed plans to keep the Colorado Energy Office open after legislature failed to fund it in 2017 and secured a bipartisan solution to fund it into the future. Established a collaborative process to develop and adopt regulations on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling sites in 2014 and are engaging in on-going conversation for how to update those regulations to ensure Colorado remains a national leader in this area. Implemented important public health protections related to oil and gas production, including requirement of groundwater sampling before and after drilling, disclosure of ingredients in hydraulic fracturing fluid and adoption of comprehensive regulations to ensure flowline safety, including the requirement that all flowlines that are not in-use, but not abandoned, are locked and marked. Signed an executive order to green state government. By releasing this executive order in 2015, Governor Hickenlooper took an important step in promoting a green culture within the state of Colorado. This executive order includes provisions to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and average petroleumbased fuel consumption for vehicles in the state fleet. Signed onto an 8-state compact to create electric vehicle corridor in 2017 and in 2018 released Colorado s Electric Vehicle Plan. Carved out $30 million of federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding to Colorado for use in providing financial incentives for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles and the installation of EV charging and CNG refueling facilities LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 5
POLICY PRIORITIES Take steps to strengthen the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) The Commission, housed in the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, is the body responsible for ensuring that oil and gas production in Colorado is performed in a way that protects the health and safety of Colorado s people, animals and land. The Commission was last overhauled in 2008. As outlined earlier in this paper, the industry has gone through a lot of change in the last decade. Now is the time to revisit Commission processes and procedures, as well as its make up and structure, to ensure it is best positioned to fulfill its mission and mandate. To this end, I will work with my cabinet appointee at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to: Create a standard, formalized voice for local government in COGCC permitting process While many local governments are in the practice of negotiating with producers, there is not an official process for ensuring local government voice in COGCC permitting process. To be clear, I fully support the COGCC s retaining permitting authority, but I also believe there would be value in providing an intermediary step where producers would make a good faith effort to develop agreements with local governments on issues including but not limited to noise and light mitigation. Agreements with local governments could be a part of the permitting process, with some procedure in place if such agreements could not be reached. Such a process would ensure local voice in the permitting process and provide greater discretion to COGCC in approving or denying permit applications. Explore the idea of restructuring the COGCC to make it a full-time, professionalized body empowered with more proactive policysetting responsibilities Today, the COGCC includes seven members plus two ex-officio members representing state agencies. While supported by full-time staff, the Commissioners are volunteers who bring specific perspective and expertise to this work, but are busy people with other jobs and they are not compensated for their time and service to the state. Further, their primary charge is to review and process permit applications. Some other states have a smaller, professionalized Commission, which allows those Commissioners to invest more time in developing expertise and wrestling with the policy questions that underlie permitting. These bodies function in a manner more similar to Colorado s Public Utilities Commission. A restructured Commission may consider if Colorado should have regional rules for permitting based on factors such as population density? Or a restructured Commission could be empowered to conduct on-going policy audits to review and compare Colorado s policies with those of other states and make policy recommendations or regulatory changes based on those findings. As Governor, I will explore these options with the goal of ensuring the COGCC is empowered and positioned to fulfill its mission and charge of fostering the responsible development of Colorado s oil and natural gas resources in a manner consistent with the protection of public health, safety and welfare, including environment and wildlife resources. LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 6
Create incentives for and make investments in new energy technology and infrastructure development to expand energy storage and transmission for power from renewable sources As home to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, nationally-recognized academic research institutions and ample private sector resources in the field, Colorado has been a leader in researching and developing clean energy technologies and helping to accelerate transition of those technologies from development to marketplace. Today, one of the most significant barriers to new energy adoption is related to storage and transmission. Our track record of success through the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory and other efforts should be leveraged with priority focus on energy storage technology advancement that will make it easier and less expensive to use wind and solar energy in place of fossil fuels at all times of day and in all places. By pooling and investing new state resources in research and infrastructure we can leverage significant outside investment and make meaningful progress in this area. In the absence of federal leadership and funding for renewable energy development under the Trump administration, the state s role in this work is even more important today than in the past. We have an opportunity and obligation to further Colorado s role as a national leader in this field. Leverage our waste, water and forest resources through innovation and investment in biodigestion to create biogas for energy New technologies are enabling efficient and clean capture of energy from organic matter found in sources including landfills, wastewater plants, forests and animal waste from farms and ranches. Colorado s robust agriculture industry and natural resources position our state well to capitalize on this opportunity. As Governor, my administration will explore and establish incentives and supports for innovative approaches to biogas production, with the goal of ensuring both environmental and economic benefit, particularly for our rural ranchers and farmers. LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 7
Advance an aggressive clean transportation agenda Powering our transportation system is a major component of our strategy to deliver a clean energy future. We have taken important steps recently to prepare for the future with the development of Colorado s Electric Vehicle (EV) Plan. This comprehensive plan addresses plans to grow charging infrastructure across the state and spur EV adoption, including growing the segment of the state fleet that is EV. As Governor, I am committed to ensuring this comprehensive plan is a living, actionable roadmap to change. Further, in partnership with public officials, industry leaders and environmental advocates, I will explore the feasibility of adopting a state renewable fuel standard for the transportation sector to mirror our renewable portfolio standard for power generation. LYNNE FOR COLORADO: ENERGY 8