Tag: American Clean Energy and Security Act

The global warming debate is heating up in the House, leading to the kind of quirky moments that are a common feature of life on the Hill.

Beset by a growing chorus of environmental opposition culminating in more stringent drilling regulations in April, some in Colorado’s natural-gas industry say they need to do a better job of portraying their product as the cleanest burning fossil fuel.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is leading the charge to increase federal oversight of the nation’s natural gas industry, reintroducing a bill that specifically targets a process called hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking,” as it’s known in industry circles, pumps a mixture of water and sand into a well using extremely high pressure in order to force gas to the surface. Some environmental groups say the process can lead to groundwater contamination.

A spike in uranium prices in recent years has sparked a mining-claim rush near a proposed Colorado wilderness area – a situation that would be exacerbated by a federal energy bill that may include nuclear power in a national renewable energy standard.

House Democrats have just reached a compromise on a cash-for-clunkers bill that would provide financial incentives for people to trade in their old gas-guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles.

The volatility of natural gas prices causing a major production downturn on Colorado’s Western Slope is exactly why William Schroeder Jr. of the Intermountain Rural Electric Association says the state’s largest co-op spent $366 million on a new coal-fired power plant.

Colorado’s New Energy Economy will serve as a model and its congressional delegation as a catalyst for a comprehensive energy bill currently being hashed out in two U.S. House committees, according one Denver-based environmental advocate closely tracking the legislation.

Winds of change may be blowing through Golden today — underscoring just how critical Colorado has become on the national clean-energy front — but the real test of the Obama administration’s legacy is unfolding in Washington.