Face the State

Gov. Bill Ritter is in Washington, D.C. today, "touting clean-energy laws and polices that are creating jobs, attracting companies and advancing a new era of manufacturing in the state," according to a press release. In a call with media after Ritter's presentation to a U.S. Senate committee, Sen. Mark Udall said his colleagues are very interested in the "Colorado example." But not everyone in Washington is so enamored: Republican U.S. Senators used the committee hearing as an opportunity to criticize Ritter's energy policy positions on a national stage.

RitterU.S. Senate video

"State, county and local officials spent nearly $32 million in incentives and tax breaks to attract this Danish wind turbine company to build a new facility in Pueblo," said U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, of the new Vestas plant there. "What I do know is that the citizens and taxpayers in my state don't want their energy taxes raised or other jobs killed to pay for green jobs."

Ritter responded to Bond's criticism after the hearing. "Many of the things he put up there as incentives...were not just about clean energy," he said. "They were about any company that is going to be involved in manufacturing."

"Quite frankly, at the end of the day, what he was talking about were, many of those kinds of incentives would be available not just to Vestas but would be available to a steel company if it were going to be put up."

Udall also defended the subsidies. "In the long run, this is what states do, this is what local government entities do," he said.

State government provided $6.355 million of the over $31 million in total government subsidy for the Vestas plant. $2.5 million in federal funds were also committed.

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond's office

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., questioned Ritter about the impact of federal "cap and trade" legislation on agriculture and energy prices. Ritter did not say whether he supported the bill, which passed the U.S. House last month. He did, however, say the final legislation should include more provisions to prop up the domestic natural gas market.

"One of the things that I really believe is that [the bill] gives short-shrift to natural gas," he said. "I think that there should be far more done with natural gas and incentivizing production."

Despite that shortcoming, Ritter defended the bill's other provisions, which he says has been improperly cast as damaging to rural America. "What I don't think was taken into consideration is the benefits to agriculture," he said, claiming farmers and ranchers should look to cash in on lease payments of up to $5,000 annually for turbines placed on their property.

Calls to two members of Ritter's press office for further comment were not returned.