Natural gas producers joined environmental organizations and Colorado lawmakers on Apr. 19 as Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. signed legislation that directs the state's biggest electric utility to replace coal-fired generation with gas—and other more environmentally benign sources—in the most heavily populated areas.
"HB 1365 will help us comply with looming federal clean air standards in a way that is proactive and makes sense for Colorado," Ritter said. By using energy sources produced in Colorado, Ritter said the state will "jump-start" its gas sector much in the same way it is driving its solar and wind industries.
He said Xcel Energy Inc. will have to cut nitrous oxide emissions by up to 80% from several Front Range coal-fired plants by yearend 2017, or sooner. It will work with the state's public health and environment department to submit a plan to the public utilities commission by Aug. 15, detailing how it will retire or retrofit 900 Mw of coal-fired capacity.
'National example'
Xcel will give primary consideration to replacing or repowering the plants with gas, renewables, and other energy sources, Ritter said.
"This legislation brings economic, energy, and environmental benefits together in one package," he said. "It will set a national example."
Three of the state's top gas producers—EnCana USA Inc., Noble Energy Inc., and Anadarko Petroleum Corp.—said in a joint statement that the measure "serves as a model for what is possible when disparate interests come together for the common purpose of creating new, high-quality Colorado jobs and cleaning our air for future generations."
Regina Hopper, president of America's Natural Gas Alliance in Washington, DC, added, "In this unifying effort, which brought together bipartisan lawmakers as well as members of the environmental and energy community, lies an example we believe the rest of the nation can follow."
Immediate issues
But a Congressional Research Service energy and environment analyst suggested in a Jan. 19 report that several issues must be resolved if gas from currently underutilized plants is going to supplant coal as the leading US electricity source.
These include the amount of excess gas-fired generating capacity available; current operating patterns of coal and gas plants, and the amount of flexibility power system operators have; whether the transmission grid can deliver power from existing gas plants to users served by coal units, and whether there are sufficient gas supplies and pipeline capacity, Stan Mark Kaplan wrote.
"There is also the question of the cost of a coal displacement by gas policy, and the impacts of such a policy on the economy...," he added.
Kaplan, who was scheduled to discuss the issue at an Apr. 23 Environmental Law Institute seminar, said Congress might consider "a rigorous study" of potentially replacing coal-fired generation with power from existing gas-fired plants. Colorado's new law suggested that people there were ready to go farther.
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