Bill Summary for Bill Number HB10-1363

Date: 04/22/2010

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB10-1363

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved to refer House Bill 10-1363 to the Committee	PASS

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