Gov. Bill Ritter, D-Colo., has appointed seven Coloradans to the Renewable Resource Generation Development Area Task Force. Eight other members of the task force have been designated or appointed by Joan Fitz-Gerald, Senate president, and Andrew Romanoff, House speaker, and three members were designated by the governor's energy office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Colorado Counties Inc.
The task force – established by the passage of Senate Bill 91 in late May – was created to produce maps that detail all electricity generation and transmission lines in Colorado in order to determine the most appropriate areas for renewable energy development. The maps are due for delivery to the governor by the end of the year.
Task force appointees by Ritter include Dan McClendon, general manager of Delta-Montrose Electrical Association; Frank Prager, vice president of environmental policy for Excel Energy; Rick Gilliam, director of Western states policy with SunEdison; Ronald Lehr, a former Public Utility Commission chair and current wind energy consultant; George Smart, chief of engineering for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Colorado Big Thompson project; Tony Frank, director of renewable energy development for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union; and John Bleem, a division manager for the Platte River Power Authority.
Appointees by Fitz-Gerald and Romanoff include Craig Cox, Interwest Energy Alliance; Mac McLennan, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association; John Nielsen, Western Resource Advocates; Ron Larson, Colorado Renewable Energy Society; Barbara Walker, Independent Bankers of Colorado; and Sam Mamet, executive director of Colorado Municipal League.
Glenn Gibson, Larimer County commissioner, was designated by Colorado Counties Inc.; David Hurlbut, with NREL, was designated by the director of NREL; and Morey Wolfson, with the governor's energy office, was designated by the director of the governor's energy office.
