In a May 9 editorial, The Gazette of Colorado Springs falsely asserted regarding House Bill 1281's provision to double renewable energy mandates contained in 2004's voter-approved Amendment 37 that "[n]o fail-safe mechanism was built in to suspend the mandates if they prove too costly or impractical to meet." The measure does, in fact, contain such a mechanism. The editorial also misleadingly suggested that some doubt “whether meeting the earlier standards is affordable and feasible.” However, Colorado's major electric utility, Xcel Energy, reportedly is “on track to become compliant with Amendment 37 eight years ahead of schedule.”

The editorial highlighted HB 1281 in an evaluation of the recently completed legislative session. As the Rocky Mountain News reported March 28 after Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed the bill:

The law requires utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as the sun, wind or biomass by 2020 -- double the goal of 10 percent by 2015 set by Amendment 37, which voters passed in November 2004. Customers eventually would pay the cost incurred by utilities to comply with the renewable standards.

From the editorial “Pepto-abysmal: We have a case of post-session indigestion,” in the May 9 edition of The Gazette of Colorado Springs:

A potential energy crunch looms in Colorado, as demand is expected to outpace supply, but rather than dealing with the situation realistically, focusing on tried and true technologies, the governor and legislature jumped whole hog on the renewable energy bandwagon.

A doubling of Amendment 37 renewable energy mandates was approved, even before we know whether meeting the earlier standards is affordable and feasible. No objective, Coloradospecific cost-benefit analysis was done. Amendment 37's optout provisions were disallowed. No fail-safe mechanism was built in to suspend the mandates if they prove too costly or impractical to meet.

Backers of the mandates simply looked around at what other states are doing, like teenage fad-followers, pulled arbitrary numbers out of their hats and demanded compliance, completely disconnected from all other considerations. It marks an unparalleled effort by the state to manipulate energy markets and dictate energy sector business decisions. That not only sets a bad precedent, but the ratepayers will suffer the fallout when the folly becomes apparent.

Contrary to The Gazette's assertion that the legislation contains "[n]o fail-safe mechanism," HB 1281 exempts qualifying retail utilities from administrative penalties if the utility has reached a retail rate impact cap without achieving full compliance with the renewable energy standard:

The commission shall exempt a qualifying retail utility from administrative penalties for an individual compliance year if the utility demonstrates that the retail rate impact cap described in paragraph (g) of this subsection (1) has been reached and the utility has not achieved full compliance with paragraph (c) of this subsection (1). Under no circumstances shall the costs of administrative penalties be recovered from Colorado retail customers.

Moreover, the editorial's assertion that "[a] doubling of Amendment 37 renewable energy mandates was approved, even before we know whether meeting the earlier standards is affordable and feasible" ignores the documented success of Amendment 37. The News reported on February 22 -- more than a month before Ritter signed HB 1281 into law -- that Xcel “is on track to become compliant with Amendment 37 eight years ahead of schedule.” The News reported in greater detail on Xcel's anticipated ahead-of-schedule compliance in a December 15, 2006, article:

Xcel has 282 megawatts of wind energy on its systems and is adding 775 megawatts next year. The total would make Xcel compliant with Amendment 37 through 2018. The mandate requires that Xcel get 10 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2015.