Final
Traditional Energy Industry & Economic Development
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Votes:
Action Taken:
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10:52 AM -- The Future of the Traditional Energy Industry and Economic Development, Mr. Dag Nummedal, Colorado Energy Research Institute and Mr. Kevin Doran, University of Colorado School of Law
Mr. Dag Nummedal, Colorado Energy Research Institute (CERI), discussed his organization and its mission to coordinate energy research across Colorado. A copy of his presentation was distributed to the committee (Attachment I). He commented that he thought that energy in the future will be provided by solar power. In the meantime, oil and gas demand will grow. He discussed future opportunities in the western United States for unconventional energy resources, including oil shale, ultra deep gas, tight gas sands, shale gas, and gas hydrates. He explained that these resources are starting to become viable economically due to high oil prices. He also commented on the significance of coal. Coal is more evenly distributed throughout the world than oil and it is important to the country's energy security. He discussed the coal gasification process and how it can produce various energy sources. There are opportunities in Colorado to use coal gasification. Another option for future energy is fuel cells. He provided information on the efforts of the fuel cell center at the Colorado School of Mines to make the technology economically sustainable. He discussed SB 05-66's impacts on CERI. This bill requires CERI to conduct specific research and educational programs. He discussed CERI partnerships with other energy-related entities, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
11:09 AM
Representative Borodkin commented on the need to better market the energy activities that are occurring in Colorado. Senator Evans discussed private research efforts. Mr. Nummedal noted that research is shared between the private and public sectors and that there is a need for collaborative public/private research partnerships. Mr. Nummedal also discussed efforts regarding the development of coal gasification in Colorado. Representative Borodkin discussed the importance of Colorado recognizing that it is part of the global economy. Mr. Nummedal discussed a program involving northeastern states placing carbon emissions caps on themselves. The states are proposing incentives for companies to be able to comply with the emissions caps. The states are also discussing the sale of emission allowances under a cap-and-trade system. Such systems allow generating companies that have not used all of their emission quotas to sell the right to emit more pollution to competitors. This allows for the control of the total amount of pollution, while not financially-burdening certain companies. He stated that Colorado would benefit from participating in the program.
Representative Borodkin stated that she wanted to have various industry stakeholders get together to continue discussions on policy recommendations for the state.
Mr. Doran, University of Colorado School of Law, provided an overview of Colorado's current energy profile (Attachment J). About 36 percent of Colorado's energy comes from petroleum, 30 percent comes from natural gas, 32 percent comes from coal, and 2 percent comes from renewable energy. He also discussed energy prices and emissions trends. Permits for oil and gas well are increasingly significantly in Colorado. He stated that creating a state energy strategic plan such as those in California, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey would be an important first step for Colorado. Such plans set goals for renewable-energy use or carbon emissions and outline the steps needed to attain them.