“Green” Energy Plan Would Have Hiked Rates by $50 to $100 Million
Denver, CO – With just hours until the General Assembly’s “crossover deadline” when legislation must pass through at least one house of the legislature or be declared dead, American Tradition Partnership (ATP) members lit up Colorado Senate phones and effectively stopped passage of S.B. 178.
If passed, S.B. 178 would force Colorado consumers to purchase an even greater percentage of renewable energy despite studies that show adding wind and solar to the utility grid actually cause more pollution.
Since renewable energy is much more expensive than traditional energy sources like coal and natural gas, S.B. 178 could have raised utility rates across Colorado by an estimated $50-$100 million or 25%.
Donald Ferguson, Executive Director of American Tradition Partnership – a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting property rights and battling environmental overreach stated, “Today’s defeat of S.B. 178 was a huge victory for hardworking Coloradans.”
“S.B. 178 was a last-ditch effort to salvage Colorado’s ‘renewable energy mandate.’ The Colorado Attorney General’s Office testified the current standard likely violates the U.S. Constitution.
ATP is currently a plaintiff in the lawsuit seeking to overturn Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard in federal court for violating the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. S.B. 178 was designed to overcome the legal complaints brought by ATP.
Currently, 30 states have some sort of renewable energy mandate and Ferguson is hopeful Colorado could be the linchpin in unraveling these schemes across the country, saying “S.B. 178 would have only made the current situation worse.”
Ferguson explained why these green schemes are a bad deal for consumers saying, “Just like the Solyndra scandal, so-called ‘renewable energy’ mandates are just another example of radical environmentalists using government force to line their own pockets at the expense of everyday Americans.
“And perhaps the most maddening thing is that renewable energy mandates do nothing to improve the environment! Even President Obama’s EPA noted that the manufacturing process to create ‘green’ energy installations causes a jaw-dropping amount of pollution. And studies show adding renewables to the grid results in more pollution than running coal or natural gas as baseload power sources.”
“The answer to America’s energy problems is the free market. Government – and especially these schemes pushed by the radical environmentalists are getting us nowhere fast. Just take a look at the price at the pump next time you get gas.”
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