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<br /> i "We take climate change seriously and environmental quality,"said Driskell. "That's grid, among other innovations. "How could
<br /> what we did was precedent-setting," said a false tradeoff.We can envision the sustain- we sign off on a 20-year franchise when we
<br /> Shaun McGrath, former mayor and City able future we want and then work to cre- don't know what the energy world will look
<br /> Council member, and now co-chair of Boul- ate it. We are not going to passively accept like in 5 years or 10 years?"said Driskell.
<br /> der Clean Energy Business Coalition. "We what business as usual might deliver." He Boulder had hoped for a win-win sit
<br /> were the first city in the United States to vote pointed to the community's strong plan- ation; namely, to negotiate a new, possibly
<br /> to leave an IOU [investor-owned utility] in ning framework and methodical approach shorter, franchise with Xcel that would in-
<br /> order to pursue clean energy goals." to achieving its goals. Underscoring this elude a number of side agreements allow-
<br /> L% �eoscr of commitment, the city's comprehensive plan ing the city to achieve its goals for reducing
<br /> Boulder is an anomaly in many ways. It is a opens with two pages describing its sustain- greenhouse gas emissions.Xcel declined,say-
<br /> liberal-leaning city in a conservative-leaning ability principles. ing the franchise should be a legal template
<br /> state, a center of high technology and en- The Climate Action Plan tax, has been for right-of-way access, that any side agree-
<br /> trepreneurial activity in a historically agri- a "smashing success," said Ken Regelson, ments would need to be separate documents
<br /> Ycultural region, and because of a cluster of founder of EnergyShouldBe.org and a for- linked to but not integral to the franchise
<br /> national laboratories, hosts one of the high- mer policy consultant with Colorado's So- itself;and that 20 years was the only term it
<br /> est concentrations of climate scientists in the la-r Energy Industry Association. With help would consider. Xcel indicated that some of
<br /> world.The National Oceanographic and At- from a U.S.Department of Energy grant,"we the things Boulder wanted to do would not
<br /> r mospheric Administration is located there, audited 4,000 homes last year, institut- be possible, given the regulatory construct
<br /> as is National Center for Atmospheric Re- ed a concierge program to make it easy of the state. The Public Utilities Commis-
<br /> search,the National Institute of Science and and affordable to install energy-efficiency sion would have a hard time granting Xcel
<br /> Technology,and the University of Colorado. measures,and instituted minimum standards permission to treat Boulder differently than
<br /> Further, the National Renewable Energy for all rental property in the city by 2019. its other customers. "This is a concept that
<br /> Laboratory is just 20 miles down the road, Arguably, we have one of the highest per- Xcel falls back on frequently;that they would
<br /> in Golden,Colo. capita installations of rooftop solar in have a hard time under state law carving out
<br /> "There is no debate here about whether the nation." a special exception for Boulder, even if the
<br /> climate change is real and whether human Out of frrana Mse—The issue of carbon city paid for it,"said Huntley.
<br /> activity is contributing to that. It's a given," emissions came to the fore with the pend- As Xcel sees it, city-by-city exceptions
<br /> said David Driskell, executive director of ing renewal of Boulder's 20-year franchise are not practical."Whatever we put together
<br /> community planning and sustainability for with Xcel in 2010. Every 20 years, discus- for Boulder we have to be able to offer it t
<br /> Boulder. "The debate here is about what to sion of the pros and
<br /> do in response." cons of creating a f
<br /> Boulder's environmental consciousness municipal utility had
<br /> is part of the draw for new high-tech com- been brought up aridI
<br /> panes, and energy technology is one of the fiercely debated, but t
<br /> city's strategic advantages for economic de- this time there was Sv"
<br /> velopment, he said. Throughout the state, an entirely new head
<br /> Boulder is both admired for its technical of steam, an environ-
<br /> leadership and held in disdain in conserva- mental imperative to
<br /> I Live circles as representing "25 miles sur- reduce greenhouse
<br /> rounded by reality," a badge the iconoclastic gas emissions, cou-
<br /> community of 100,000 proudly trumpets in pled with new and -
<br /> advertisements on city buses. exciting opportuni-
<br /> Boulder's environmental ethic goes back ties in energy innova- _
<br /> to its founding in the late 1800s,when citi- tion. "The concept Sam Weaderr Qoouyerr Eaffl,torres0dlent,and CEO oV Coal Snevey
<br /> zens set aside open space in reverence to of a 20-year fran- one.,convened)ew cove t(as ua and gov,2err SdAaorry
<br /> their stunning natural surroundings, nestled chise gave a lot of gvoulp to ei3po®rre the ffeasObEfty o4 BouNerr°s mmunucgoaio zpysuemmo
<br /> against the front range of the Rockies. In the people in the com- Photo by Ken Regelson.
<br /> I 1960s Boulder created one of the first open- munity pause. it seemed like such a long all of our other 130-plus communities in
<br /> space taxes to stop urban sprawl, and 40 time considering all the emerging technology Colorado," said Jerome Davis, regional vice
<br /> years later, in 2006, passed the first carbon and change,"said Sarah Huntley, communi- president of Xcel Energy in Colorado, "We
<br /> tax in the United States as part of a strategy cations coordinator for the city of Boulder. have to operate from a statewide perspec-
<br /> to meet environmental goals. "The City Council did not want to tie the tive. Moreover, a franchise agreement has
<br /> This strategy, captured in the Climate city's hands for 20 years." never been about the supply mix or genera-
<br /> Action Plan, channeled resources to energy There was ongoing talk that the cost of tion. No one city can dictate what's best for
<br /> efficiency programs and supported the city's solar was falling,the smart grid was opening the rest of the cities. That's why we have
<br /> core belief in a sustainable future. "We have up new possibilities for integrating distribut- PUC." 4
<br /> a strong belief that sustainability is not a ed generation,and computer advances were As Boulder sees it, the state regulatory
<br /> trade off between economic vitality and portending new and better control of the construct leaves the city out in the cold,
<br /> Public Power June:2N 2 PublicPowerMedia.org 15
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