Students support renewable energies
by Kathryn Graham
The Metropolitan
Danny Holland / The Metropolitan
Metro student Amber Michael plays dead in an effort to prove that air
quality is negatively affected by coal-fired power plants during a demonstration
sponsored by Metro State Active Voices for the Environment at the flagpole
Oct. 19.
Auraria students joined 300 campuses nationwide in an effort to urge
politicians to endorse clean and renewable energy in the upcoming elections.
Students gathered at the flagpole October 19 to voice the fact that people
who live near coal-fired power plants suffer from asthma, respiratory
diseases and cancer.
Leaders from Metro State Active Voices for the Environment (MSAVE) organized
the demonstration for Metro.
Colorado may join 16 other states in adopting renewable energy requirements,
but will be the first state to vote on the initiative.
If passed, Amendment 37 would require Colorado utility companies with
40,000 or more customers to generate or buy a portion of their energy
from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal heat, biomass
facilities, methane from landfills, hydrogen fuel cells or animal wastes.
Advocates for this initiative say that using renewable energy is in Colorado’s
best interest.
“This makes sense for several reasons, one is cleaner air. The
American Lung Association has endorsed it. Another reason is it’s
cheaper energy. Wind is the cheapest form of new energy,” said Manolo
Gonzalez-Estay, the campaign co-director for Coloradoans for Clean Energy.
Xcel Energy initially did not want to put up the Lamar wind farms, but
then later admitted that it saved customers $4.6 million in the first
year, Gonzalez-Estay said.
A recent Rocky Mountain News poll showed that 74 percent of Colorado
voters support Amendment 37.
However, Xcel Energy, TriState Generation and Rural Electric Association
have joined together with Citizens for Sensible Energy Choices to support
a $900,000 opposition campaign. Xcel Energy alone has sunk $500,000 into
opposing the amendment.
Two percent of Colorado’s generated energy already comes from renewable
energy. Amendment 37 proposes that utility companies be required to use
three percent beginning in 2007, escalating to 10 percent by 2015 and
it would be required that at least four percent of that come from solar
technologies.
“That little amount of solar energy [four percent] has a huge price
tag on it,” said Jeani Frickey, spokesperson for the Citizens for
Sensible Energy Choices.
“What Amendment 37 is changing is that we’re going to require
a certain source of energy regardless of cost,” Frickey said.
Opponents of the initiative also claim that non-residential consumers
may pay more for electricity under this proposal.
The initiative caps residential bills so that an increase of no more
than 50 cents will be allowed.
Non-residential customers, such as hospitals and schools, won’t
have cap protection and could face higher energy costs, Frickey said.
Amendment 37 advocates argue, however, that renewable energy facilities
will provide tax revenues that can be used by local governments that can
pay for services such as schools and hospitals, which would benefit them.
Another concern is how this amendment will affect the rural communities.
“Rural areas will be hit the hardest by this,” Frickey said.
Advocates for Amendment 37 disagree that rural areas will be negatively
affected arguing that renewable energy sources are typically located in
rural areas and will therefore boost their economies.
For example, the construction and maintenance of the new energy facilities
will create jobs in rural Colorado. Also this initiative will create the
opportunity for some farmers and ranchers to benefit from a new source
of income by using agricultural waste for the purpose of generating electricity.
They also will have the opportunity to lease their land for wind facilities.
Xcel makes more money selling natural gas and is already planning an
80 percent rate increase this winter. If this initiative passes wind source
won’t make as much money for Xcel because of the cap. The real motivation
for the opposition to this amendment is economically driven, Gonzalez-Estay
said.
“It’s another big corporation telling another big lie,”
Gonzalez-Estay said.
Colorado House Speaker Lola Spradly, R-Beulah, and Congressman Mark Udall,
D-Eldorado Springs, lobbied in favor of Amendment 37.
This amendment is completely bipartisan, explained Gonzalez-Estay. “Two
people who would never work together did, and why? — because it’s
better for Colorado,” he said.
MSAVE is Metro’s environmental advocacy group, which is a project
of EnviroCitizen.
“EnviroCitizen runs vote environment campaigns and encourages students
to run clean energy campaigns on their own campuses. We helped Mercedes
do that last spring,” said Beka Wilson, EnviroCitizen coordinator.
“I’m currently helping students at four different campuses,”
Wilson said.
“We’re definitely for it (Amendment 37),” said Mercedes
Pollmeier, spokesperson for MSAVE.
“We passed a clean energy initiative on campus. Now we want to
take it statewide,” Pollmeier said. In April ninety-five percent
of the students at Auraria voted in favor of paying one dollar per student
per semester to subsidize the cost of wind and solar energy.
“We’re currently running a campaign on campus to promote
37 and 4a. Our campaign is called vote environment,” Pollmeier said.
4a refers to the FasTracks proposition, which would increase the tax
rate 0.4 percent in order to extend lightrail and RTD services.
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