Colorado Code
Part 1 - Air Quality Control Program
§ 25-7-105. Duties of Commission - Rules - Legislative Declaration - Definitions

(VIII.5) (A) This subsection (1)(e)(VIII.5)(A) and subsections (1)(e)(VIII.5)(B) and (1)(e)(VIII.5)(C) of this section apply only to an electric utility that serves at least fifty thousand Colorado retail customers and obtains less than eighty percent of the load necessary to serve Colorado retail customers from an electric utility that has filed a clean energy plan and owns or plans to invest in, in whole or in part, an electric generating unit with a nameplate capacity larger than fifty megawatts that directly emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, including generating units that burn oil, gas, or coal. The requirements of subsections (1)(e)(VIII.5)(B) and (1)(e)(VIII.5)(C) of this section become applicable if an electric utility satisfies the criteria specified in this subsection (1)(e)(VIII.5)(A) upon leaving a provider who has filed a clean energy plan. The electric utility shall provide notice of intent to file a clean energy plan to the division within six months after becoming subject to this subsection (1)(e)(VIII.5). The electric utility shall file a clean energy plan pursuant to subsection (1)(e)(VIII) of this section within one year after becoming subject to this subsection (1)(e)(VIII.5).
(B) If an electric utility does not provide written notice of intent to file a clean energy plan with the division or does not submit a clean energy plan after expressing written intent to file a plan, the commission shall, within fifteen months after the electric utility's failure to provide written notice or submit a plan, adopt a rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the electric utility's Colorado retail electricity sales of at least forty-eight percent by 2025 and eighty percent by 2030, including emissions associated with imported electricity, as compared to a 2005 baseline. The commission shall design the rules to accelerate near-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce total cumulative emissions between the date of adoption and 2030.
(C) Clean energy plan filings must include projected emissions for each calendar year through 2030 to inform the statewide greenhouse gas planning process. The division shall evaluate the reported emissions and supplemental information in an electric utility's annual greenhouse gas reporting data submission made pursuant to the commission's rules to determine whether an electric utility is progressing consistent with the annual emissions projected by the plan and remains on track to achieve the reductions of the clean energy plan by 2030. If the division determines that the electric utility is not progressing as planned, the electric utility's annual greenhouse gas emissions exceed annual emissions projected as part of an approved clean energy plan for two consecutive years, or the electric utility's annual greenhouse gas emission reductions are not on track to achieve at least an eighty percent reduction below 2005 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the division shall include this information in the next greenhouse gas progress briefing to the commission and the commission shall, within nine months after receiving the briefing from the division, adopt rules that require an updated clean energy plan to be filed that demonstrates achievement of the 2030 targets and the cumulative emission reductions that were projected in the initial clean energy plan. The updated clean energy plan, once verified by the division, becomes the operative plan for purposes of subsection (1)(e)(VIII) of this section regarding the commission's regulatory requirements.
(D) Notwithstanding subsections (1)(e)(VIII.5)(A) to (1)(e)(VIII.5)(C) of this section, a qualifying retail utility with a clean energy plan that has been approved and verified in accordance with section 40-2-125.5 and subsection (1)(e)(VIII)(C) of this section and a wholesale generation and transmission cooperative with an electric resource plan that has been filed in accordance with subsection (1)(e)(VIII)(I) of this section and that has been approved are not subject to subsections (1)(e)(VIII.5)(A) to (1)(e)(VIII.5)(C) of this section. Progress of emission reductions for an electric utility that is an investor-owned retail utility with a clean energy plan that has been approved and verified in accordance with section 40-2-125.5 and subsection (1)(e)(VIII)(C) of this section or a wholesale generation and transmission cooperative with an electric resource plan that has been filed in accordance with subsection (1)(e)(VIII)(I) of this section and that has been approved shall be assessed through the recurring resource planning process at the public utilities commission.





(X.4) No later than September 1, 2022, the commission shall propose rules establishing recovered methane protocols, as that term is defined in section 40-3.2-108 (2)(q), for at least inactive coal mines, biomethane as that term is defined in section 40-3.2-108 (2)(a), and gas system leaks, and a crediting and tracking system for recovered methane as that term is defined in section 40-3.2-108 (2)(o). The commission shall adopt the rules no later than February 1, 2023. The rule-making proceeding is subject to the procedural requirements of this subsection (1)(e).
(X.7) In designing greenhouse gas emission reduction rules that apply to gas distribution utilities with clean heat plans approved by the public utilities commission, the commission shall harmonize its regulatory requirements with the activities contemplated under an approved clean heat plan. In adopting any additional emission reduction requirements on gas distribution utilities subject to a clean heat plan different from the requirements of an approved clean heat plan, the commission shall:

(X.8) (A) The definitions in section 40-3.2-108 (2) apply to this subsection (1)(e)(X.8) and subsection (1)(e)(X.7) of this section.
(B) A municipal gas distribution utility shall implement a clean heat plan program. The purpose of a clean heat plan is to reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions to meet the state's greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals in section 25-7-102 (2)(g). The clean heat plan must include a projection of the utility's greenhouse gas emissions through 2050.





(B.5) "Industrial and manufacturing sector" means energy combustion and energy use by industry, including: Combustion from coal, diesel, gasoline, heat, liquified petroleum gas, natural gas, refinery feedstocks, and residual fuel oil; and industrial processes, including cement manufacture, electric transmission and distribution equipment, iron and steel production, lime manufacture, limestone and dolomite use, ozone depleting substances substitutes, semiconductor manufacture, soda ash, and urea consumption. The term does not include oil and gas exploration, production, processing, transmission, and storage operations other than energy combustion emissions that are included in the industrial and manufacturing sector.






















(A) "GHG credit" means a tradeable compliance instrument in a physical or electronic format, the use of which is authorized pursuant to a regulatory program adopted by the commission that represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gas by a regulated source.
(B) "Regulated source" means a source of greenhouse gas that is subject to a rule adopted by the commission under subsection (1)(e) of this section that imposes specific and quantifiable greenhouse gas reduction obligations upon that source or group of sources.
































































Source: L. 79: Entire article R&RE, p. 1021, § 1, effective June 20; (9) added, p. 1551, § 14, effective June 20. L. 81: (9) amended, p. 1296, § 35, effective January 1, 1982. L. 84: (2) and (8) amended and (7) repealed, p. 768, §§ 3, 1, effective July 1. L. 87: (10) added, p. 1151, § 2, effective July 1. L. 89: (11) added, p. 1156, § 3, effective January 1, 1990. L. 92: (1)(c), (4), (8), and IP(11) amended and (11)(c) to (11)(g) and (12) to (16) added, pp. 1170, 1292, §§ 7, 2, effective July 1. L. 93: (11)(h) added, p. 958, § 1, effective May 28. L. 95: (1)(a)(III) added, p. 1149, § 1, effective May 31. L. 96: (1)(a)(IV) added, p. 1038, § 2, effective May 23; (9) amended, p. 1541, § 130, effective June 1; (6) repealed, p. 1257, § 149, effective August 7. L. 99: (17) and (18) added, p. 1246, § 1, effective June 2. L. 2002: (14) R&RE, p. 1066, § 1, effective August 7. L. 2003: (19) added, p. 1035, § 6, effective April 17; (11)(d) repealed, p. 724, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2005: (11)(g) repealed, p. 282, § 18, effective August 8. L. 2008: IP(11) and (11)(h) amended, p. 882, § 1, effective May 20. L. 2010: (5) amended, (HB 10-1042), ch. 209, p. 908, § 1, effective September 1. L. 2011: (14) amended, (SB 11-163), ch. 13, p. 37, § 3, effective March 9. L. 2013: (20) added, (SB 13-273), ch. 406, p. 2374, § 4, effective June 5. L. 2016: (11)(f) amended, (SB 16-189), ch. 210, p. 771, § 63, effective June 6. L. 2019: IP(1) amended and (1)(e) added, (HB 19-1261), ch. 355, p. 3264, § 3, effective May 30. L. 2020: (14) amended, (HB 20-1402), ch. 216, p. 1055, § 57, effective June 30. L. 2021: IP(1) amended and (1)(e)(X.4), (1)(e)(X.7), and (1)(e)(X.8) added, (SB 21-264), ch. 328, p. 2106, § 2, effective June 24; IP(1), (1)(e)(I), (1)(e)(III), and (1)(e)(VII) amended and (1)(d.5), (1)(e)(VIII)(G), (1)(e)(VIII)(H), (1)(e)(VIII)(I), (1)(e)(VIII)(J), (1)(e)(VIII.5), (1)(e)(XI)(B.5), (1)(e)(XII), (1)(e)(XIII), (1)(f), and (1)(g) added, (HB 21-1266), ch. 411, pp. 2741, 2730, §§ 14, 6, effective July 2.



Cross references: (1) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1996 act enacting subsection (1)(a)(IV), see section 1 of chapter 210, Session Laws of Colorado 1996. For the legislative declaration contained in the 1996 act repealing subsection (6), see section 1 of chapter 237, Session Laws of Colorado 1996. For the legislative declaration contained in the 2003 act enacting subsection (19), see section 1 of chapter 145, Session Laws of Colorado 2003. For the legislative declaration in the 2013 act adding subsection (20), see section 1 of chapter 406, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.
(2) For sections 608 and 609 of the federal "Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990", see 42 U.S.C. §§ 7671g and 7671h, respectively.
(3) For the short title ("Environmental Justice Act") and the legislative declaration in HB 21-1266, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 411, Session Laws of Colorado 2021.

Structure Colorado Code