Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources (04/22/2010)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	04/22/2010	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:34 PM to 02:27 PM	Brophy	*
		Gibbs	X
Place:	SCR 353	Harvey	E
		Kester	E
This Meeting was called to order by		Schwartz	X
	Senator Hodge	Whitehead	X
		Hodge	X
This Report was prepared by
	David Beaujon
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB10-1363 HB10-1051		Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to the Committee of the Whole

01:34 PM

Senator Hodge called the meeting to order.

01:34 PM -- House Bill 10-1363

Senator White, prime sponsor, described the provisions of House Bill 10-1363 concerning the promotion of biogenic gas production. Existing law (Section 40-2-123, C.R.S.) specifies a number of new energy technologies that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is authorized to consider when evaluating generation acquisitions for electric utilities. This reengrossed bill adds biogenically produced methane created as a result of human intervention to the list of technologies that the PUC may consider.

01:39 PM

Committee discussion followed about the provision of the bill that defines biogenic gas as a "clean energy" under Article 9.7 of Title 40 concerning the Colorado Clean Energy Development Authority. The introduced version of the bill defined biogenic gas as a type of biomass under the renewable energy standard in Section 40-2-124, C.R.S.

The following persons testified on the bill:

01:40 PM -- Charlie Montgomery, Colorado Environmental Coalition, spoke in opposition to the bill and urged the committee to amend the bill to address potential environmental impacts related to biogenic gas development. He also spoke in opposition to the provision of the bill that defines biogenic gas as a clean energy. He explained that biogenic gas is an enhanced recovery method that - unlike other clean energies - does not replace CO2 producing energy sources. He also responded to questions from the committee about the potential environmental impacts of biogenic gas development.

01:48 PM -- Robert Pfeiffer, Luca Technologies, Inc., spoke in support of the bill and described the process his company uses to "harvest" methane gas from depleted coal bed methane formations. He also responded to questions from the committee about biogenic gas yields from his company's wells in Wyoming's Powder River Basin and the governmental entities that regulate biogenic gas production.


BILL:	HB10-1363
TIME:	02:02:25 PM
MOVED:	Brophy
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1363 to the Committee of the Whole, without amendment. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5 to 0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Excused
	Kester	Excused
	Schwartz	Yes
	Whitehead	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:04 PM -- House Bill 10-1051

Senator Whitehead, prime sponsor, described the provisions of House Bill 10-1051 concerning water efficiency plans annual reports. The reengrossed bill creates a new annual reporting requirement for water providers and expands the elements required in a water efficiency plan. By February 1, 2012, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) is required to adopt guidelines for water providers to report water use and conservation data for water supply planning. By June 30, 2014, water providers must report the required data to the CWCB. The CWCB must report the data collected to the General Assembly by February 1, 2019. The bill also requires that water providers include consideration of water-efficient clothes washers and faucet aerators when filing new or updated water efficiency plans.

The following persons testified on the bill:

02:07 PM -- Chris Piper, Denver Water Department, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in support of the bill and described the House amendments to the bill. He identified problems with the introduced version of the bill including the potential cost of complying with the bill's reporting requirement and the value of the information that would have been required to be reported by the water providers. He also responded to questions from the committee about the water providers that will be affected by the bill, called covered entities. A covered entity is a water provider that has a customer demand of at least 2000 acre-feet of water per year.

02:15 PM -- Martha Moore, Colorado River Water Conservation District, spoke in support of the bill.

02:17 PM -- Shanna Koenig, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, spoke in support of the bill and expressed concern about provisions of the introduced version of the bill.

02:20 PM -- Becky Long, Colorado Environmental Coalition, spoke in support of the bill.

02:22 PM -- Rebecca Mitchell, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, spoke in support of the bill.

02:25 PM

Senator Whitehead closed his remarks on the bill.


BILL:	HB10-1051
TIME:	02:26:01 PM
MOVED:	Whitehead
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1051 to the Committee of the Whole, without amendment. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5 to 0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Excused
	Kester	Excused
	Schwartz	Yes
	Whitehead	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:27 PM

The meeting adjourned.