Students support FasTracks, clean energy

by Dana J. Parker and N.S. Garcia
The Metropolitan

Fresh from last spring's successful initiative to subsidize the use of renewable energy on the Auraria campus, Metro State Active Voices for the Environment outlined its plans for achieving more of its environmental mission this semester at their first meeting Wednesday, Sept. 15.

MSAVE is a student organization dedicated to saving the environment through activism.

A project of EnviroCitizen, MSAVE is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. It was founded in 1992 by college students who wanted to increase citizen participation in protecting the environment.

Last year, the group succeeded in getting approval for a $1 per semseter increase in student fees to support the use of renewable energy on campus.

Currently, the Auraria Campus is investing student fees toward clean energy provided by solar panels and wind energy.

The University of Colorado has been investing in clean energy since 2000. They were the first Colorado school to do so.

MSAVE members said the Auraria Campus had a $3 million energy bill last year.

According to Excel Energy, clean energy costs 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour more than their standard service.

This year, MSAVE and EnviroCitizen's goals are to support FasTracks, a plan to extend Denver's rapid transit system, and a statewide initiative for renewable energy. Both of these measures will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot.

FasTracks would provide a more developed transit system in the Denver region, similar to those found in cities like New York and Washington, D.C.

It would include 119 miles of new light rail and commuter rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, 21,000 new parking spaces at light rail and bus stations and expanded bus service in all areas.

The new lines would include transportation from all the suburbs and West, Southwest, US 36/Longmont, Gold Line, I-225, North Metro, DIA, T-REX, Platte Valley and downtown.

Manolo Gonzales-Estay, a spokesperson for Amendment 37, told the Associated Press in August that Colorado will be the first state in the nation to vote on renewable energy and the group is getting national support.

If passed, Amendment 37 would require utility companies with at least 40,000 customers to produce 3 percent of their electricity from renewable energy by 2007, 6 percent by 2011 and 10 percent by 2015. Seven companies in Colorado would be affected.

"We want to tell students on this campus that this affects us locally and we can change this locally," said Mercedes Pollmeier, co-president of MSAVE.

One of the ways they plan to make a difference is by getting more students involved, which means getting students to vote.

"There are three parts to getting students to vote, said Ellen Salvador of EnviroCitizen. "Voter registration, voter education, and get out the vote."

MSAVE members said too many students drive to school, which causes air pollution from carbon monoxide biproducts. They suggested students start to carpool. It would have an immediate positive impact, they said.

Two lots on campus offer carpool discounts.

Events and activities planned for the remainder of the semester include an information table from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. every Tuesday at the Auraria flagpole, MSAVE meetings from 5 to 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday night, a 'National Day of Action' on Oct. 19 and a presidential debate party from 5 to 9 p.m on Sept. 30 in the Multicultural Lounge .

Pollmeier said MSAVE's purpose is to help the environment by building environmentaly friendly skills in as many ways as they can.