Posts tagged election
Voting made easy–Boulder style
Oct 30th
Four Voter Service and Polling Centers Open Now in Boulder County
Boulder County – All four Voter Service and Polling Centers in Boulder County are open through Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. VSPCs are available for voters who would like to:
· drop off their mail ballot
· cast a ballot in person
· request a replacement ballot
· register to vote or update their registration information
· vote using equipment and facilities for persons with disabilities.
VSPC locations:
· Boulder: Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office, 1750 33rd St.
· Longmont: Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office, 529 Coffman St.
· Lafayette: Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office, 1376 Miners Drive, Suite 105
· Boulder: University Club, University of Colorado campus, 972 Broadway
Hours for all VSPCs through Election Day:
· 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Oct. 28-Nov. 4 (closed Sunday, Nov. 3)
· 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 (Election Day)
Additional locations for drive-by ballot drop-off will open later this week.
The 2013 Coordinated Election is being conducted by mail ballot but, under Colorado’s new election law, any voter can cast a ballot in person at a Voter Service and Polling Centers. If you’re an active, registered voter and have not received a mail ballot for the Nov. 5 election, you should visit a Voter Service and Polling Center, call 303-413-7740 or email vote@bouldercountyvotes.org for more information.
Key Dates for the 2013 Coordinated Election:
· Tuesday, Oct. 15: Ballots mailed to all active, registered voters.
· Monday, Oct. 28: Last day to register to vote online for the coordinated election. New this year, voters may register in person at a Voter Service and Polling Center up to and including Election Day.
· Tuesday, Nov. 5: Election Day. All ballots must be in the hands of the Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office by 7 p.m.
– On Twitter: @BoCoClerk –
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Role of natural gas in municipal power generation to be examined
Oct 10th
Boulder to convene community working group on the future role of natural gas in local energy supply
The City of Boulder announced today that it will create a community working group of industry specialists and local stakeholders to explore concerns and opportunities related to the use of natural gas to generate electricity for the City of Boulder, should it decide to form a local electric utility. Natural gas will likely play a significant role in Boulder’s energy portfolio, whether the community continues to be served by Xcel Energy or by a municipal utility. The focus of the group’s work will be to examine issues and concerns related to fracking and methane releases and to explore current and possible industry best practices.
On Nov. 5, Boulder voters will be asked to weigh in on a ballot measure that would institute a five-year moratorium on fracking in Boulder and on Boulder-owned open space property. However, given the tremendous growth in natural gas production in Colorado, the current and future use of natural gas as an energy source for Boulder customers has raised concerns over fracking — a process that uses a pressurized water mixture to release oil or natural gas from deep underground.
In addition to discussing concerns over fracking, the community group will also discuss the issue of methane leakage. While it is widely accepted that burning natural gas emits significantly less carbon dioxide than burning coal, recent studies have found that using natural gas may actually release more greenhouse gases over its lifecycle. That’s because quantities of raw methane, a major component of natural gas, can escape into the atmosphere during natural gas extraction, production and distribution.
“If Boulder chooses to municipalize, before we commit to a particular energy portfolio, we want to address concerns around the use of natural gas supplied from fracking and how we can minimize the negative impacts through best practices or other means,” said Heather Bailey, executive director of energy strategy and electric utility development. “Natural gas is likely to be a necessary transition energy source as Boulder makes what we hope will be a dramatic shift away from coal and other fossil fuels toward renewable sources. Recognizing this, we have been working on what we can do as a municipal utility to influence the development of responsibly sourced gas that limits or eliminates the harmful impacts of fracking and methane release.”
Executive Director Bailey also commented that the city has a “unique opportunity” to benefit from a discussion with local experts on the feasibility of a future municipal utility to push aggressively towards responsible development of natural gas. Expertise from the University of Colorado, federal labs, as well as the numerous local companies and entrepreneurs developing leading-edge energy technologies could help Boulder in its work to curb climate change and support a robust clean energy market.
The city’s Energy Future team anticipates holding the first meeting of the natural gas community working group shortly after the Nov. 5 election. Members of the community, stakeholders and industry personnel who are interested in participating are encouraged to contact Heather Bailey at 303-441-1923 or baileyh@bouldercolorado.gov.
More information about the Energy Future project and associated municipalization exploration study is available at www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com.
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Boulder: Let the sun shine on city’s energy future
Sep 10th
The City of Boulder announced today that it will create a working group of solar industry specialists and customers – both current and future – to explore motivators and barriers to implementing more solar throughout the community. The focus of the group’s work will be on defining the next-generation of incentives as well as providing guidance about how to handle solar contracts between now and the time when the city decides whether it will create a local electric utility.
“Supporting and increasing renewable sources of energy is a core value, and we see this discussion as an important next step in our effort to create the electric utility of the future,” said Heather Bailey, executive director of Energy Strategy and Electric Utility Development.
Bailey said the city has a unique opportunity to benefit from local experts to design programs that will encourage more local energy production. Expertise from the university and federal labs, as well as the numerous companies and entrepreneurs developing leading-edge energy technologies, has already helped Boulder achieve one of the highest levels of solar per-capita in the US, with close to 14 megawatts installed in the city.
The City of Boulder has also played a significant role in supporting local energy generation, particularly solar. This has included streamlining the permitting process to offering a local solar rebate and grant program. The concept of Solar Gardens was originally conceived in Boulder, and city staff members were on the drafting team of legislation that allowed this. The solar gardens law was signed by then-Governor Bill Ritter overlooking the Flatirons from a parking lot rooftop along the Pearl Street Mall.
“We don’t want to simply continue this tradition; we want to make it even stronger by working with stakeholders to identify ways to encourage even more locally generated clean energy sources. This is fundamental to achieving our community’s goals, whether we create our own electric utility or strike a new agreement with our current provider, Xcel Energy,” Bailey said.
One of the questions the city would like to resolve is how to encourage continued participation in solar installations during the ongoing deliberation about – and possible transition to – a local electric utility. Xcel Energy recently sent the city a letter requesting that the city agree to take over contracts it has with customers if Boulder forms an electric retail utility.
The City of Boulder is committed to protecting those who have made investments in solar energy in our community from any adverse impact related to the creation of a municipal utility. The city is also interested in working with Xcel on this important issue, not only to protect those who have already made investments, but to encourage growth in this area of renewable energy.
Boulder has no way, however, of evaluating the estimates that Xcel has made about these costs.
“Before we can agree to any arrangement, we need more information from Xcel Energy,” City Attorney Tom Carr said. “The company so far has declined most of the requests for data the city has made. Without detailed information about these contracts, we have no way of verifying Xcel’s assertions and perhaps more importantly, of making sure we are doing the right thing to protect our forward-thinking customers and other ratepayers.”
The city’s Energy Future team anticipates holding the first meeting of the solar working group shortly after the Nov. 5 election. Members of the community and industry who are interested in participating are encouraged to contact Heather Bailey at 33-441-1923 or baileyh@bouldercolorado.gov.
More information about the Energy Future project is available at www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com.
–CITY–