Senate committee OKs natural-gas bill

Fast track for measure worries some workers who fear job losses

Sen. Bruce Whitehead, D-Hesperus, is sponsoring House Bill 1365 with Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction. The Senate Agriculture Committee passed it 5-2.

Although Southwest Colorado environmental groups are worried about the bill, Whitehead said the economy will benefit if Denver-area coal plants are converted to natural gas.

“This conversion will assist in creating jobs in the Colorado natural-gas industry," Whitehead said.

Opponents decried the speed at which the bill is moving. Gov. Bill Ritter unveiled it March 16, and its final major hearing was Thursday.

Both parties have angered some longtime friends with the bill. It puts Republicans crosswise with the coal industry and Democrats with labor unions.

Workers at railroads and power plants will lose their jobs because of HB 1365, said Mike Cerbo, head of the Colorado AFL-CIO.

“Where does that leave the workers who are going to get caught in this transition?" said Cerbo, a former Democratic legislator. “There may have been a little bad faith here on the part of the people who developed this bill, because workers' voices were not heard."

Coal miners and mine owners also want the bill killed. It could cause a 10 percent drop in demand for Colorado coal, said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association.

Sanderson worried that the idea of replacing coal with gas could spread nationally.

“This bill sets a dangerous precedent," Sanderson said. “It threatens to diminish the role that coal - our most abundant and affordable fuel for electricity generation - will play in meeting our future energy needs."

Natural-gas boosters, though, said their fuel can compete with coal.

“I can look you straight in the eye and tell you that this solution will not impact low-income (families)," said John Harpole, a natural-gas trader.

HB 1365 lets Xcel Energy speed through the Public Utilities Commission with its plan to retire the Front Range coal plants. The company wants to close the plants because of several looming federal air-quality mandates for haze, ozone, mercury and maybe climate change.

Xcel wants to get the plan done by the end of the year, in time for the Legislature to approve it next year, so Colorado can avoid tighter regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The specter of an EPA crackdown sold many Republicans on the bill.

“When the feds come in, everything from tailpipes to hair-care products is what the EPA has the capacity … to regulate," Penry said.

The bill already has cleared the House, where the sponsor was Whitehead's opponent in the November Senate race, Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango. Its next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee.

jhanel@durangoherald.com

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