Environmental News
Environmental News from Boulder, Colorado
City wants the public’s input on energy plans
Aug 2nd
Boulder’s Energy Future news
Public input requested; help evaluate the work plan
The City of Boulder is asking for the public’s help in reviewing the draft work plan created to help guide the exploration of potentially forming a municipal electric utility. The city is strongly committed to ensuring a high level of community awareness and engagement throughout this important process, and is looking for effective ways to include community feedback.
The goal of the work plan is to guide the major tasks and activities that must be accomplished in order to deliver a recommended municipalization strategy to City Council.
The draft work plan is available on the Energy Future project website – www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com. Comments are due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7. To provide input on the plan, use the project’s online comment form or send an e-mail to energyfuture@bouldercolorado.gov.
The draft work plan with community feedback incorporated will be presented to City Council at a Study Session on Tuesday, Aug. 28.
The city values our community’s perspectives and welcomes all feedback on the plan and project.
New edition of Energy Future newsletter available
The latest edition of Boulder’s Energy Future Today newsletter is now available online at www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com. Printed versions are available at various city buildings around town, including all libraries, recreation and senior centers, and the Municipal Building Lobby – 1777 Broadway. Articles in this edition include:
- A proposed strategy for enhanced Climate Action Plan (CAP) programs beginning in 2013
- Municipalization exploration update
- Your CAP tax dollars at work, specifically a finding by consultants about how the money has been spent to date
- An update on the Commercial Energy Efficiency Strategy
- Energy saving tips
Monthly newsletters will be created and distributed throughout the duration of the project. Sign up for the project e-mail list atwww.BoulderEnergyFuture.com to receive an electronic version of the newsletter and frequent project updates.
Second reading of the CAP tax renewal ballot language Aug. 7
City Council will hear the second reading of the proposed Climate Action Plan (CAP) tax renewal ballot language at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in City Council Chambers, 1777 Broadway. Public feedback will be heard at this meeting.
The current CAP tax, set to expire in March 2013, has been used to fund energy efficiency and conservation programs and services for residential, commercial and industrial electrical customers in Boulder for the past five years. These programs include EnergySmart and 10 for Change.
The city, with the help of consultants and the community, recently recommended a set of packages and programs that could be funded if the tax were renewed. Information on the recommended package and a historical analysis of CAP tax funds is available in the May 22 and July 24 information packets presented to City Council. Both packets and all consultant reports are available at www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com.
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Population growth unsustainable, says CU prof, and the end will not be pretty
Jul 31st
“You cannot sustain population growth. It’s not debatable,” says University of Colorado Boulder Professor Emeritus Al Bartlett. “It’s based on arithmetic. It’s not debatable unless you want to debate arithmetic.”
In an educational video entitled “Population, Consumption, and Climate: A Conversation with Al Bartlett,” the professor reprises themes from his notorious talk on population. Bartlett came to CU-Boulder in 1950 to join the Department of Physics. In the 1950s and today, he notes society and governments view steady growth as the centerpiece of the global economy.
“I got to thinking about the fact that people didn’t really understand the arithmetic of steady growth,” he said. “So I put together a talk. I first gave it in September of 1969 on the arithmetic of growth.”
Bartlett has since delivered that well-known lecture more than 1,700 times to audiences worldwide. He often cites an analogy of human population growth and multiplying bacteria. Using an animation that shows bacteria doubling over a fixed period of time, the video illustrates the arithmetic of steady growth and how quickly resources are depleted as growth continues.
“There will be limits,” cautions Bartlett.
The world population topped 7 billion in March 2012, according to the United States Census Bureau. Bartlett explains that despite the fact that population growth rates in developing countries may be 3-4 times higher than the U.S. rates, a significant problem with population resides in the United States because of high per capita demand for energy and resources.
“The average child born in the United States will have, over its lifetime, 10-20 times the impact on world resources as a child born in an underdeveloped nation,” he says. “So we’ve got to address the problem at home.”
In addition to the strain on the earth’s natural resources, excessive consumption contributes to climate change because resource extraction, manufacturing, and transportation produce a great deal of carbon dioxide. And, according to Bartlett, “if any fraction of global warming can be attributed to the actions of humans, that’s all the proof you need to say the human population today is greater than the carrying capacity of the earth.”
Population, Consumption, and Climate: A Conversation with Al Bartlett is part of a video series viewable at Learn More About Climate, produced by CU-Boulder’s Office for University Outreach and Landlocked Films.
The Learn More About Climate initiative brings climate change-related information to communities across the state.The website is an online outreach tool that localizes climate change through interviews with leading scientists and everyday Coloradans to explain how climate change is affecting our state. The site also offers resources for teachers, students, policy makers, and community members who want to learn more about this critical issue.
County hosting open house to discuss Land Use Code oil and gas development regulations
Jul 30th
Public invited to give input at Aug. 7 event
Boulder County, Colo. – Staff from Boulder County Land Use and other departments will host an oil and gas regulations open house on Aug. 7.
Staff will solicit input and give more information about the process and steps the county intends to follow for considering changes to oil and gas regulations in the Boulder County Land Use Code and related programs and policies the county can pursue to address the issue. This will be the second open house the county has hosted to provide information to residents.
What: Boulder County oil and gas regulations open house
When: Tuesday, Aug. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Boulder County Recycling Center, 1901 63rd St., Boulder
The event will include a short staff presentation at 6:45 p.m.
Staff will be located at stations throughout the open house to listen to residents’ issues and suggestions, answer questions, and provide updated information about the county’s plans to address issues related to oil and gas development. Stations will include information about the Boulder County Land Use Code, open space, public health and transportation.
Timeline
- Feb. 2 – The Board of County Commissioners approve a temporary moratorium on the processing of the required development plans for local oil and gas permits under the county Land Use Code (Resolution 2012-16) and release a statement detailing their concerns about the potential for significantly expanded oil and gas drilling within the county.
- March 1 – Public hearing for commissioners to hear staff presentations and public testimony. After the four-hour hearing, commissioners direct staff to continue gathering information about the impacts of oil and gas drilling on air, water, land, roads and infrastructure.
- April 16 – Commissioners vote unanimously to extend temporary moratorium on processing of applications for oil and gas development in unincorporated parts of the county until Feb. 4, 2013. (Resolution 2012-46).
- May 16 – Planning Commission approves Docket BCCP-12-0001: Amendments to Oil and Gas Policies, authorizing initiation of an oil and gas policies amendment process.
- June 20 – Planning Commission reviews proposed oil and gas policies amendments presented by Land Use staff, and takes public testimony.
- July 18 – Planning Commission further reviews proposed oil and gas policies amendments presented by Land Use staff, and takes public testimony.
- Aug. 15 – Planning Commission will continue their review of the draft amendments. Public testimony will not be taken on this date.
Background
Boulder County is concerned about the potential for significantly expanded oil and gas drilling within the county, and supports appropriate, tighter restrictions on drilling and increased local control to mitigate the impacts of these activities. While the moratorium is in place, the county is endeavoring to ensure its Comprehensive Plan, Land Use Code and other regulations are as thorough and up-to-date as possible.
