Travels on the Polis Administration's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Roadmap

Scott Weiser, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
·4 min read

Jan. 9—Gov. Jared Polis' Greenhouse Gas Reduction Roadmap biannual update highlights accomplishments advancing the plan's goals. State law requires state agencies to submit a report to the Governor twice a year showing "significant new work" since the last report.

Highlights of the new report include:

— The project to build new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on major highways throughout the state received $57 million in federal funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

— Xcel Energy's Clean Energy Plan is projected to result in about an 85% greenhouse gas pollution reduction below 2005 levels by 2030 and will retire all coal generating plants by Jan. 1, 2031.

— Voluntary clean energy plans from Holy Cross Energy, Colorado Springs Utilities and Platte River Power Association were verified by the Air Pollution Control Division. The plans commit each utility to achieving at least an 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2030. The division will monitor compliance annually to "ensure they remain on track."

— Gov. Polis announced his "Heat Beneath Our Feet" initiative aimed at "jump-starting the development of geothermal energy generation across the Western United States" as Chair of the 2023 Western Governors Association.

— The Colorado Energy Office is developing a program to provide grants for the use of geothermal energy in electricity generation, space and water heating, and cooling in homes, businesses, and communities.

— The Colorado Energy Office and the Colorado Department of Transportation focused on consumer education to inform Coloradans of the benefits of EVs. EV CO is a new, statewide electric vehicle education campaign working to raise awareness about EVs for all Coloradans. In its first two weeks, the campaign had nearly 9,000 unique visitors and had nearly 50 million impressions from earned media, according to a news release. Ari Rosenblum, spokesperson for the Energy Office said $550,000 was allocated for the campaign.

— Last August's Ozone Season Transit Grant Program increased ridership on public transit for participating agencies, with Colorado Springs' Mountain Metro Transit seeing a 48% increase and the Regional Transportation District seeing a 36% increase over August 2021, according to the release. Participating transit agencies received $28 million to provide fare-free transit service during the 2022 and 2023 summer ozone season. It's unknown what the environmental impact of the program was.

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"Although there were fewer Ozone alert days in August 2022 (17 alert days) than in August 2021 (24 alert days), it is impossible to pinpoint whether the free fare program is responsible for that change," said Rosenblum

— The Colorado Department of Transportation is expanding Bustang services over the next three years. In September, Bustang and Pegasus services were expanded in the mountain corridor along I-70. Pegasus service was expanded to 7-day-a-week, leading to a 60% increase in ridership. Bustang service increased by 50% by adding an additional trip between Denver and Grand Junction 7 days a week.

"RTD was awarded $8.65 million from the state to support this initiative, and reported $10.3 million as the total cost associated with the initiative in August 2022," said Rosenblum. "The legislation required RTD to cover 20% of the cost of this program."

— The state Environmental Justice Action Task Force submitted its recommendations to the legislature, the Governor, and the health department on November 14, 2022. The recommendations included sections on undertaking environmental equity analyses, creating a unified definition of disproportionately impacted communities, how to use data in reducing environmental and health disparities, and best practices for community engagement. Four-and-a-half million dollars has been allocated to fund the Environmental Justice Advisory Board.

— The Air Quality Control Commission established rules and protocols for recovered methane projects related to manure management systems, municipal solid waste/landfills, wastewater treatment, coal mines, and leak reductions in gas utilities' delivery systems.

The commission also created a recovered methane credits and tracking system. The recovered methane credits will be used by the PUC in its approval of Clean Heat Plans submitted by gas distribution utilities. According to an economic analysis of the rule, building the recovered methane credit accounting and tracking system is estimated at $260,000.

Additionally, there are fees imposed on producers using the system by third-party tracking and accounting services. Verification by an accredited third-party verifier recognized by the Accreditation Program for Greenhouse Gas Validation/Verification Bodies is required as well. They typically charge upwards of $10,000 for the service, according to the economic analysis report.