State sustainability mandate is a deal that smells for our working class

Here’s an unusual start to one of my editorials: I agree with the local Republicans … or at least agree they are bringing to light an issue that needs to see the light of day…and it’s not just because I’m on meds from my surgery.

The local GOP leaders have a letter on page 3 raising concerns about a state move that is super aggressive in terms of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado, but the ramifications could kick working people between the legs.

The recent action seems a quiet overreach by the state. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) went all Greta Thunberg on steroids at the end of the year with its “Clean Heat Plan” climate requirements. The PUC is mandating that by 2035, investor-owned gas utilities — like Atmos Energy that serves our area — must cut carbon pollution by 41% from 2015 levels. The Colorado PUC decided that in a 2–1 vote. Utilities are expected to reach 100% decarbonization of building heating by 2050.

According to an article in the Colorado Sun, “To meet the goals, utilities, regulators and policymakers must help hundreds of thousands of homeowners and landlords in Colorado switch from gas-fired heating systems to electric heat pumps and cooking appliances powered by clean, renewable solar and wind technology.” We’ll assume utilities like Atmos will ask the PUC to approve consumer and business rates that will help pay for those hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to get people to switch to electric heat pumps and install efficient windows and insulation, among other measures.

I can smell a bad deal, and this smells. It’s not often I agree with the local GOP leadership but their contentions on the negative impacts with this hardline mandate are probably right. Even the progressive Colorado legislature put a cap on new expenses to consumers tied to their emission mandates, but the PUC apparently didn’t get the memo, or care.

I am a fan of sustainable energy, but it also must make sense to my friends and neighbors. About seven out of 10 Colorado households burn natural gas as their primary source for heating. And right now, natural gas is considered to actually be cleaner than electricity which is generated not just by solar but also coal. Gas is not perfect but is a good complementary source of energy to wind and solar as the major transition occurs.

Moving to renewables makes sense and would be so much easier and effective if Donald’s mind wasn’t cemented in the 1950s on the federal level. Instead, he is making the inevitable more difficult relying on a finite and decreasing energy source while China glides ahead into a new golden age of sustainable energy. In a recent World News, we reported that China developed the Talatan Solar Park, a 162-square-mile site on the Tibetan Plateau that contains solar panels and wind turbines. China has announced that the country would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across its economy and would expand renewable energy sixfold in coming years.

As for the state, a commentary in the Denver Gazette noted, “Put plainly, the PUC has now made clear that Colorado’s gas utilities are expected to plan for the elimination of the system that they currently operate, and captive ratepayers are on the hook for bankrolling it all… it marks a fundamental shift in how Coloradans are expected to live.” Sigh. 

In 2021 the state legislature directed utilities to submit proposals for cutting their emissions in “Clean Heat Plan” filings with the PUC. It set initial reduction targets of four percent by 2025 and 22% by 2030, using 2015 as a baseline, but stopped short of going any further. The elected legislators included a 2.5% annual cap on how much utility costs could increase to meet emissions targets. Not the PUC however. The PUC is not elected but appointed so members do not have direct accountability to citizens.

The PUC’s decision doesn’t factor in concerns about the cost of decarbonization…which seems purposefully blind. I can smell a big ‘ol political misstep starting with this relatively quiet decision. Believe me, the people that own those big private jets I saw on the Gunnison tarmac a couple weeks ago won’t care that much. They’ll pay to make the changes without blinking and not be part of the Atmos program. So fewer people in that natural gas system will see higher rates to make up for that. Hence, the middle class and poorer families who can’t simply write a $20,000 or $30,000 check to convert their house from natural gas to electric get left holding the bag to foot the rising gas bills in an increasingly expensive valley.

Hopefully the system works and the people who must get elected by being accountable to the voters realize they’ll be blamed for even more rising costs as this comes into effect. Yeah, I’m agreeing with the local GOP leadership tandem on this one and hopefully enough state representatives pull back that stinky state overreach.

—Mark Reaman