State GOP Senators question alternative energy mandates

Some legislative Republicans are pushing back at recently enacted mandates that increase Colorado’s reliance on alternative energy.

The GOP’s Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield, is calling for a scaling back increased portfolio standards for the use of renewable energy by public utilities, imposed by the legislature last year, and Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, is proposing that the costs of providing alternative energy be reflected on utility bills.

Mitchell’s Senate Bill 71, introduced last week, says that alternative energy sources should comprise 10 percent of power generation—a standard first approved by state voters in 2004 under Amendment 37. The new legislation ramps down last year’s House bill 10-1001, passed by a Democratically controlled legislature that increased the percentage to 30 percent by the year 2020. The bill was signed into law by then Gov. Bill Ritter. The 2011 General Assembly is split between GOP control in the House of Representatives and continue Democratic control in the Senate.

Mitchell said he believes the voters approved the 10 percent requirement in good faith and that the legislature imposed its own agenda without regard for the voters’ intent.  – More –

Via - CoNewsAgency