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Republicans’ Colorado Energy Office rescue clears committee on bipartisan vote

By JOEY BUNCH 01/19/2018 | updated 8 years ago

A bill to restore the funding and redistribute the attention of the Colorado Energy Office cleared its first committee Thursday. That’s not surprising for a Republican bill in a Republican-led committee, but the bipartisan 9-2 vote on Senate Bill 3 means it might have a chance to rescue an imperiled agency.

Last year a partisan slugfest in the last days of the session shelved funding for the state office. Gov. John Hickenlooper kept it going with state money he could scrounge up to match the federal dollars the agency gets.

Republicans don’t want to kill the office. They want it to treat oil, gas and coal with the same zeal as it promotes renewable energy and climate change initiatives, while keeping an open mind on emerging hydroelectric and nuclear energy technologies.

Ultimately, no opposition showed up to testify against the bill Thursday, and Conservation Colorado, the state’s largest environmental organization, was neutral on the bill.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction, amended the bill at the opening of Thursday’s hearing. Originally he proposed requiring Senate confirmation for the leader of the office, but instead amended the bill to require the office to get its funding approved annually instead of every four years, instead.

“I think people agree we really do need an energy office in Colorado to promote and all-of-the-above energy policy,” Scott  told the committee. “We kind of drifted a little bit from that in the past, (but) we want people from around the country and around the world to understand Colorado is open for business for all energy sectors.”

Sen. Matt Jones of Louisville, who leads the Senate Democrats’ environmental agenda, thinks the office should look forward toward sustainable energy jobs of the future, instead of backward toward fossil fuels and dangerous nuclear energy.

“We have a Colorado brand and it is basically going to clean energy,” he said. “It’s cheaper now, and it’s cleaner now and it’s safer now to go with wind, solar and energy conservation.

Jones voted no on the bill along with Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, who said the bill is “taking us in the wrong direction,” though she supported retaining the office.

Democrats have a nine-seat majority in the 65-member House, so Republicans will need to attract some Democrats who support traditional energy development who also support researching energy sources beyond wind, solar and conservation.

The Senate Republican press office called Thursday’s bipartisan vote from the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee could signal “a possible end to the brinkmanship,”

Senate Bill 3 goes next to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it will bounce to the full Senate if it passes.

 

 

 
John Jaques
JOEY BUNCH

Reporter

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